
Copyiight}^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



\ 



THE FOUNDATION AND 
THE SUPERSTRUCTURE 

OR 

THE FAITH OF CHRIST AND THE 

WORKS OF MAN 



BY 

Richard Mead De Mill 



For if there had been a Law given which could have preserved alive, verily the 
said Righteousness (which entitles a man to Life) would have been from (man himself 
keeping) Law. — Gal. 3 : 21. I live by Faith, (not my Death producing faith, which 
does not fulfil the Righteousness of the Law, but) that of the Son of GOD, who loved 
me, and gave himself for me. — Gal. 2 : 20. In Him was Life ; and the Life was the 
Light of men . . . (of) every man that cometh into the world. — John i : 4, g. 

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and 
do not the truth. ... If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us. — / John 1:6, 8. Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with 
me, to render to each man according as is his work. — Rev. 22 : 12. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

C^be fcnicftcrbocftcr press 
1908 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 27 1908 

GLASS Ci. 'Xc Mo,T 



Copyright, 1908 

BY 

REBECCA W. De MILL 



Ube ftnicfterbocftet pres0» tkcvo motti 



IN MEMORY OF 
HENRIETTA ELIZABETH DE MILL 

DAUGHTER OF THOMAS A. AND CAROLINE E. DE MILL 
BORN AUGUST 23, 182I. DIED DECEMBER 16, 1881 



A wonderfully sweet-tempered and unselfish woman ;— most patient, gentle, forbear- 
ing, and forgiving. A model daughter and sister ; blessing her widowed father's house 
and mine. A sure reliance amid life's cares, a comforter in trouble. In all things per- 
forming her duties with steady faithfulness, unobtrusive tact, a constant thoughtfulness 
for others, and an engaging unconsciousness of self. One who in life would have 
shrunk from this public praise. 



A GRATEFUL BROTHER'S LOVING TRIBUTE 



111 



NOTE 

This book is published exactly as the manuscript was left 
at his death by Richard Mead De Mill. Mr. De Mill lived 
long enough, not only to complete his presentation of the 
truth as he saw it, but also to make this condensation of 
the argument so that his thought might have the benefit 
of a wider circulation. The condensation is published 
first, but it is intended later to give the more complete 
argument to the public. 

While the author of this book was fortunately able to 
finish his work, he did not live long enough to superintend 
its publication. He had therefore no opportunity to read 
the proofs. It is quite possible that if he had had that 
opportunity, he would have made some alterations in the 
text, but his literary executor does not care to take the 
responsibility of doing so, and in fact sees no necessity for 
any change. The work, therefore, appears as he left it, 
even to the note — the evidently unfinished note — to Section 
90. 

The minute and painstaking care which Mr. De Mill 
gave to the preparation of his manuscripts was character- 
istic of the man himself. The study of the scriptures was 
his keenest pleasure. It became the passion of his life, and 
for twenty-five years he gave to it the benefit of his legal 
mind, trained in the sifting of evidence and the exact use 
of language. And it is in the results of this study, rather 
than in his labors in his profession, that are to be found 
his highest claims to grateful remembrance. 

R. W. De M. 
September, 1908. 



PREFACE 

A MANUSCRIPT of considerable size, entitled The 
Purpose of the jEons, was completed by me about 
a quarter of a century ago ; although it has been 
considerably added to from time to time, and over fif- 
teen years ago was re-arranged. This manuscript I have 
not yet submitted to a publisher. It has struck me, 
however, that certain matters therein might be made 
immediately useful, if put before the public in smaller 
volumes. The outcome of this thought has been the 
production of several manuscripts besides the one 
now given to the press. In resorting to this method, 
of course, I shall lose the advantage of the more 
thorough treatment of the larger work, and of the 
association therein, in due order, of a wider range of 
thought. In this volume I have not attempted to 
do full justice to such of the truths touched upon as 
may seem unusual. Desiring of all things to bring 
its contents before as large a number as possible, it 
must suffice, if I shall succeed in preparing the way in 
some degree for the larger work. My object is to 
enkindle the interest of the reader in the truths herein 
proclaimed; and, to that end, to let him know that 
there is a great deal more to be said in their behalf 
than could be possibly compressed within a little 
compass. Take, for example, the condensation which 



viii Preface 

has been exercised in regard to such important sub- 
jects as the Unpardonable Sin, and the great work 
of "the Faith of Christ, " upon which St. Paul so loves 
to dwell, and in regard to which men more misunder- 
stand him at this day than St. Peter declares them to 
have done in the apostolic age. 

But notwithstanding this necessary brevity, which 
scarcely puts the reader in a position fairly to judge, I 
would welcome friendly criticism; and I have often 
sought for it, and in many ways. It is in fact one 
of the grounds of assurance of the truth of my posi- 
tions, that hitherto no adverse criticism has been made 
by any one of the bright minds who have kindly read, 
in whole or in part, the manuscript of my largest 
work. And I would be only too glad, before the 
publication of that work, to have it subjected to a still 
larger number; but unfortunately I have exhausted 
my circle of scholastic friends; and the experience 
of what I have done for others enables me to realise 
that a critical perusal of manuscripts is a labour of 
time, and care, and patience, which one ought not 
to expect, except from those of whose personal interest 
he is confident, and unto whom he would be glad to 
render like friendly favours. That I may serve the 
cause of the God of truth, however, I have been stimu- 
lated to spend long years of invalidism in carefully 
preparing these several manuscripts, when my physical 
system was demanding outdoor air, and exercise, and 
recreation. It would be most inconsistent in me, 
therefore, not to be willing for the sake of holy truth, 
to subject my positions in regard thereto to the criti- 
cisms of those who fear God, and are lovers of that 
truth. Only, let the criticisms bring what I say to 
the simple test of the revelations of God, — ^the re vela- 



Preface ix 

tions, that is to say, both of the Bible and Nature; 
the latter including, of course, the nature implanted 
by God within us, and in His own likeness. For, 
except as revealed, man has no knowledge whatever 
of the Supreme Being, and of His relations to His 
creatures; and by the test alone of His revelations to 
men must all tenets in regard to heavenly truth stand 
or fall.^ If then the views which I am upholding can 
be shown to contravene at all the revelations of God 
Himself, no one, I trust, will be more ready than I 
to be so taught. But if only they shall be found to 
oppose the views of men, that is the very reason why 
I have been at such pains to give them to the world. 
For I, and I pray all my readers also, would humbly 
hearken to the inspired apostle St. Peter when he thus 
commands: ''As newborn babes (or without prejudice) 
desire the reasonable, unadulterated milk (of the 
word), that ye may grow thereby unto salvation. "2 
Or when he consistently tells us, that the sure word 
of prophecy is the proper lamp for our darkness all 
through the long night even until the dawn of day; 
and first, because *'ever>^ prophecy" is of public and 
common interpretation ; ^ and secondly, was spoken 
of the Holy Ghost. ^ And I would heed also the 

1 Deut. 29: 29. I am speaking, of course, of strictly heavenly 
truth which is in its nature beyond the knowledge of man. I 
freely admit the pertinency of history in such earthly matters as 
church government, etc. 

2 I Pet. 2:2. See Liddell and Scott, Greek Lexicon, as to ouSoXov, 
above rendered unadulterated. 

^The word in 2 Pet. i: 20 rendered "private" is always, when' 
so to be rendered, opposed in Greek to that which is public and 
common. Another idea contained in i : 20 is, that no prophecy is 
of one interpretation only. Both ideas may be expressed thus: 
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of exclusive 
interpretation." See §jioo (a). 

* 2 Pet. i: 19-21. 



X Preface 

Lord Himself, when from the height of Heaven after 
His ascension He commands, ''He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." ^ 
Or when, during His life on earth, in opposition to both 
the scholars and the Church, He said to the common 
people, **Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye 
not what is right?" ^ Or when again, in speaking of 
searching the Scriptures for their testimony of eternal 
Life through Him, He warned the Jews: *' There is 
one that accuseth you, (even) Moses on whom ye have 
set your hope. For if ye had believed Moses, ye would 
have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye 
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my 
words?" 2 Or when, on another occasion. He in like 
manner further warns, and with probable reference to 
Himself and His own resurrection: "If they hear not 
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded, though one should rise from the dead. " ^ Or 
when also He declared: ''He that is of God heareth 
the words of God. " ^ Even as Isaiah long before had 
commanded, saying, "Seek ye out of the Book of the 
Lord, and read."^ 

1 Rev. 2: 7, etc. 2 Luke 12: 57. 3 John 5: 45-47- 

*Luke 16: 31. 

s John 8: 47. — "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord 
hath made even both of them. " Prov. 20 : 12. — " O foolish people, 
and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which 
have ears, and hear not: fear ye not me? saith the Lord," Jer. 
5:21 . — ' ' He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. ' ' Matt. 1 1 : 1 5 , etc. 

6 Is. 34: 16.— "Should not a people seek unto their God? . . . 
To the Law, and to the Testimony! if they speak not according to 
this word, surely there is no light in them. " — 8: 19, 20. 



CONTENTS 



SECTION PAGE 

I. The Threefold Aspect of Salvation . . . i 



2. Salvation from Sinfulness .... 

3. Salvation from Suffering .... 

4. Salvation from Sinfulness and Suffering an 

Individual Matter ..... 

5. The Three Salvations — Foundation and Super- 

structure ...... 

6. Salvation and Death before and after Christ 

7. Salvation and the First and the Second Death 

8. The Existence of Evil and the Light of Reve- 

lation ....... 

9. The Origin of Evil in Man's Free-Will . 

10. The Fall, Redemption, and "^onic" Judgment 

11. Evil, and the Biblical Method op Redemption 

12. Redemption, and Mystery of Continued Exist- 

ence OF Evil ...... 

13. Revelation the only Key to the Solution 

14. Necessity of an Invulnerable New Life 

15. Redemption and Man's Dual Nature 

16. Redemption and the Irrespective Nature of God 

17. God Justifies all Men unto Life . 

18. Paul's Message — Justification by Faith 

19. Paul and the Irrespective Character of Divine 

Justice ....... 



9 
10 
12 

14 
16 

17 
20 

^2> 
25 
26 
28 

30 
32 
33 

35 



xii Contents 

SECTION PAGB 

20. The World Lost, Redemption only through Christ 37 

21. Life and Death of Christ Satisfied God for Lost 

World ........ 39 

22. Paul's Argument — Salvation through Blood of 

Christ ........ 40 

23. All Men Are Sinners and Require Common Justi- 

fication ........ 42 

24. Faith or Works of Christ Gave Life to All Men 44 

25. Universal Justification and Individual Sanctifi- 

cation ........ 47 

26. God's Justice Shown by Deeds . . . .48 

27. Sanctification and the Unpardonable Sin . . 50 

28. Salvation from Sinfulness Obtained by Individ- 

ual not Given by God .... 



29. Works and Sufferings of Men Succeed Those of 
Christ ....... 



30. The Day op Grace Followed by the Day op Works 

31. Unpardonable Sin in the Heart 

32. Man Alone Responsible for his Sanctification 

33. Biblical Testimony to the Inviolability of Free- 

WlLL 



34. Paul's Argument Continued — ^Justification by 
Faith ....... 



35. Paul's Argument on Basis op Universal Redemp- 

tion AND Justification .... 

36. Paul's Argument on Basis of Things Accomplished 

BY Christ ...... 

37. The Flesh and the Spirit .... 

38. God's Indwelling Spirit in the Flesh 

39. Christ's Spirit Quickeneth unto Immortality 

40. Faith and Flesh in Romans .... 

41. The Work of Faith in Philippians . 

42. Christ and Universal Immortality 

43. Personal Responsibility and Doctrinal Truth 



51 

S3 
56 
57 
59 

62 
64 

65 

67 
69 
72 

73 
74 
76 

79 

82 



Contents xiii 

SECTION FAGB 

44. All Men Children of God . . . . .83 

45. God's Glory Revealed in His Children . . .85 

46. Travail Brings Comfort to God's Children . . 89 

47. Justification Makes Men Sons of God . . .92 

48. God Calls Men According to His Purpose . . 94 

49. The Inseparable Bond between Christ and Us . 95 

50. Same Salvation for Jews and Gentiles . . .96 

51. The Superstructure — Men's Work for Themselves 98 

52. Agreement of Paul AND James .... 100 

53. Teaching of James ....... 102 

54. James's Teaching (Cont.) ...... 103 

55. James's Perfect Agreement with Paul . . . 104 

56. Salient Points Reviewed ..... 106 
^ 57. The Duality of Man's Nature .... 108 

58. Christ's Work OF Sacrifice Finished . . .110 

59. Man's Heaven-conferred Sovereignty of Will . 113 

60. St. Peter's Teaching . . . . . ,114 

61. St. Peter's Teaching (Con^.) ..... 117 

62. Supernatural Agreement of New Testament 

Writers . . . . . . . .119 

6^. Unlettered Disciples Taught by Inspiring Spirit 120 

64. Agreement of John with Jesus .... 122 

65. John, and the Unpardonable Sin .... 124 

66. The Purpose of Judgment ..... 126 

67. The Church and the Unpardonable Sin . .127 

68. The Persuasive Powers of the Church . . . 129 

69. Efforts with Individual and Congregation . .131 

70. "Binding and Loosing" Spoken to Congregation 134 

71. "Binding and Loosing " not Spoken to Priests and 

Bishops ........ 136 

72. Responsibility to Others ..... 138 

73. "Binding and Loosing" Imposed UPON ALL . . 139 



XIV 



Contents 



SECTION 

74. 



"Binding and Loosing 

BILITY 



AN Individual Responsi- 



Consistency op Bible on Individual Sovereignty 
John's Epistles and the Unpardonable Sin. 
John's Teaching on Sin, Death, and Deliverance 
The Eternal Harmony of Spiritual Truth 
Christ's Departure and Advent of Holy Spirit 
The Incarnation Completed by Ascension 
Isolated Details Show Supernatural Consistency 
The Day of Judgment 
"Yea, I Come Quickly." . 
Terrors of Second Advent 
The Day of the Lord 
The Coming in the Clouds 
Destruction of "Second Death 
Superiority of Scripture over Philosophy 
Blasphemous Interpretations of Scripture . 
Second Coming Complemental to First . 
Christ's Mission one op Love and Mercy 
The Reasonableness of the Advents 
The Necessity of Resurrection 

94. The Gift of Renewed Life .... 

95. The Supernatural Consistency op Disciples' 

Teaching ...... 

96. Eternal Life Has an Eternal Foundation 

97. Jude Confirms the Christian System 

98. The Spirit and the Churches . 

99. "Beware of False Prophets" 
100. Warning against Error 
loi. Christ and Nicodemus 

102. The Moral Courage of Nicodemus 

103. Nicodemus' Bravery at Crucifixion 



75. 
76. 

77. 
78. 

79- 
80. 
81. 
82. 
83. 
84. 
85. 
86. 

87. 
88. 
89. 
90. 
91. 
92. 
93- 



141 
144 
146 
147 
150 
153 
156 
158 
159 
163 
164 
167 
169 
171 

173 
176 
177 
179 
181 
183 
185 

188 
189 

193 
194 
196 
198 
201 
203 
205 



Contents 



XV 



ii6. 

117. 
118. 
119. 



SKCTION 

104. Unquestionable Integrity of Nicodemus 

105. The New Birth ..... 

106. Purpose of Christ in Obscuring His Death 

107. The Supernaturalness of Christianity 

108. Wealth as a Bar to Christianity 

109. The Rich Young Man 
no. Rich Men of the New Testament 

111. The Courtesy of Nicodemus . 

112. Nicodemus Inspired with Wonder 

113. Purpose of Parabolic Form of Teaching 

114. John's Conception of Christ's Mission 

115. Baptism and New Birth . 
Baptism before the Resurrection . 
Baptism after the Resurrection . 
Place of Baptism in the Christian System 
Ignorance of Nicodemus regarding Baptism 

120. The New Birth .... 

121. Supernatural Idea op New Birth . 

122. Nicodemus Has Confidence in Jesus 

123. RfesuME OF Nicodemus' Interview . 

124. The New Birth and its Source 

125. Conception of New Birth as Spiritual 

126. The Nicodemus Interview Paraphrased 

127. Emphasis on Idea of "Begotten from Above 

128. Supernatural and Spiritual Regeneration 

129. "How can these Things Be?" 

130. Necessity of New Birth 

131. Requisites to Man's Perfection 

132. Requisites to Admittance to Kingdom . 

133. Threefold Nature of Christ's Mission . 

134. Christ Lays Foundation; but Men Build Super- 

structure 



PAGE 
208 

211 

215 
219 
220 
222 
223 
225 
226 
228 
230 
232 

234 
236 
238 
241 
244 
247 
248 

251 

252 

25s 
258 
260 
261 
263 
264 
267 
269 
271 

273 



XVI 



Contents 



SECTION PAGB 

135. Purpose of Christ's Mission ..... 274 

136. Christ Silent about Sacramental Baptism . . 277 

137. Baptismal Regeneration not Introduced . .279 
Regeneration through Christ .... 282 
Regeneration not Accomplished by Baptism . . 284 
The Uncovenanted Mercies of God . . . 288 
Baptism and the Universality of Salvation . . 289 
Notes ......... 293 



138. 

139- 
140. 

141. 



THE 
FOUNDATION AND THE SUPERSTRUCTURE 



The Foundation and the 
Superstructure 



" CHRIST OUR LIFE " 

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Water 
and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. " John 
3:5. . 

§1. The Three-fold Aspect of Salvation. — ^There 
are certain truths mentioned and explained further 
on, which had better be kept in view from the beginning. 
We commonly speak as if there were but one salvation. 
Yet are there three things which are necessary to 
man's perfection as an intelligent being gifted with 
free-will, namely, Immortality, Holiness, and Happi- 
ness; and therefore, to make man perfect, from the 
three opposites of these he must be saved; or from 
Death, from Sinfulness, and from Suffering. In this 
analysis of the three forms of Evil to which man would 
seem to be liable, the term "Death" is opposed to 
Immortality, and means Final and Absolute Death, 
or, practically, the living soul's annihilation; natural 
death being regarded as only a form of Suffering, (a) * 

* Letters refer to notes at the end of the volume. 

I 



2 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



It is the Salvation from Death, or from the first of 
these three forms of Evil, which is the gratuitous 
and wholly exclusive work of God in the Person of 
our Lord, being a pure Gift of Grace, without any 
assistance whatever from the Works of Men. Al- 
though every Christian reader will probably admit 
this, and even regard it with me as the fundamental 
doctrine of Christianity, it will still be the difficult 
task of this little volume to get each one to be true 
to his admission, and to carry the doctrine out, as 
St. Paul did, to its logical conclusion. We all, indeed, 
recognise the Creator to be the only possible source 
of Life; and both in respect of the original Gift, and 
of it^ Re-creation by our Lord after it had been for- 
feited through Sin. And yet, in one way or other, 
theologians of the most opposite extremes of thought 
persist in confounding the Gift, which they admit to 
be the pure act of God, with its due Nurture after it 
has been bestowed; and because of this confusion, they 
insist upon the Works of Men having also their re- 
creative effect, and one which is even preliminary 
and indispensable to the bringing into efficient action 
the Power of Almighty God! And furthermore they 
fall into differences with one another as to the proper 
methods by which men are required to help out the 
great God, and enable Him to perform His original 
act of Re-creation! They will not see, that however 
essential individual faith and repentance on the one 
hand, and obedience to the command to be baptised 
on the other, may be to the growth of our spiritual 
Life, still, that they must not be confounded at all 
with the divine restoration of Life to sinners as a pure 
act of Grace. Suffice it, however, at this point to 
claim, without special argument, that the Salvation 



The Three-fold Aspect of Salvation 3 



from Death, and the corresponding renewal of Life 
to men, both temporal and spiritual, is, and must be, 
the exclusive Gift of God, entirely apart from, and 
independent of, any Work of Men, of whatever sortj 
and that the Work of God, moreover, is a finished 
work, done irrespectively by the irrespective God for 
all sinners alike, whether believers or unbelievers; 
or whether baptised or unbaptised; and that, in con- 
sequence. Death has been abolished for all men, and 
Life and Immortality brought to light ; ^ so that every 
man is now an immortal being, and cannot finally 
die. In the very nature of things, not of a man's own 
will in any way, but, as must be the case with every 
child, of his father's will was he begotten. So, there- 
fore, in respect of our new Life or birth from God 
*'the Father," St. James consistently says, ''Of His 
own will He brought us forth," or (a. v.) "begat He 
us, by the Word of Truth"; 2 even by that Word of 
Truth, who is the Son of God. And accordingly St. 
Paul told the pagan Athenians,^ we are all His off- 
spring; "having been begotten again,'' says St. Peter, 
"through the Word of God, who Hveth and abideth." * 

§2. Salvation from Sinfulness. — But while the 
Salvation from Death is thus a finished act of Grace, 
and we have been freely gifted with a new Life which 
sin has no power finally to destroy, the Salvation 
from Sinfulness, on the other hand, is by no means 
a pure matter of Grace; but to obtain it the Works 
of men are positively and uncompromisingly required. 
For otherwise, man would at once be deposed from 
his free-will sovereignty, and degraded into a machine | 

1 2 Tim. i: lo. 2 jas. i: 17, 18. 

3 Acts 17: 28, 29. * I Pet. i: 23. 



4 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

while God would become, contrary to what inspiration 
declares of Him, one who repents of His gifts, ^ and 
over men would be no more a King of kings and Lord 
of lords, but of them would become, instead, a mere 
machine-maker, and altogether the Doer of all the 
machine *s acts; — ^if it prays to Him, the Author of 
the prayer, and if it praises Him, the One who praises 
Himself; and where it neglects to pray or praise, and 
works out what we otherwise would call sin, the One 
who respects persons, and causes all the differences in 
the machines! As all this could never be, it follows, as 
the Bible teaches, that the free will of man is inviolable, 
and that it is for him to work out his own Salvation 
from Sinfulness with fear and trembling ; 2 the Holy 
Spirit stimulating and guiding, but never coercing. 
And so, because the Divine Grace may not consistently 
do away with Sinfulness, as it did with Death, the one 
Sacrifice, which did away with the latter, is removed 
to heaven, to allow of the coming of that Divine Re- 
prover who brings with Him no pardon for our sinful 
condition, but will severely ''guide into all truth." 
The Blessed Spirit therefore becomes a Reprover of 
Sinfulness, instead of a pardoning Sacrifice therefor. 
To use the words of our Lord, "He will reprove the 
world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
judgment" ;3 duly administering not Death, indeed, 
from which we have been delivered, but "Judgment" 
according to our deeds; whether it be the deeds of 
Sinfulness on the one hand, or of Righteousness on 
the other. Hence, in Sinfulness we have that one Sin 
for which no sacrifice can be offered, and no pardon 
obtained; in respect of which, indeed, the Sacrifice 
for Sin has been removed, and a Reprover substituted ; 

1 Rom. 11: 29. 2 Phil. 2: 12. 3 John i6: 7-15. 



Salvation from Sinfulness 



for which, accordingly, St. John declares, he will not 
say that we should even pray ; ^ — a sin the removal of 
which is clearly ''behind of the afflictions of Christ" 
in the taking away of the sins of the world; ''behind, " 
because, verily, it is left for royal man to do his volun- 
tary part in its eradication ; even to "fill up that which 
is behind"; 2 — in short, the Unpardonable Sin against 
the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to lead man on to the 
work of its eradication, and who must reprove, because 
He may not exercise compulsory Grace. ^ Hence, with all 
consistency we are told, that as a Comforter ' ' the world " 
— ^an expression which denotes the evil natures of all man- 
kind, and includes all imperfection in ourselves or others 
— cannot receive Him.^ For how may He comfort, 
where He may not pardon; and where, in truth, ac- 
cording to the need, He must j udge ? (a) In consequence , 
unlike the Salvation from Death, the Salvation from 
Sinfulness is dependent upon the Works of men, and 
is still in the future, and only possible through the 
free-will of the individual to be saved ; as is the visible 
teaching of every day's experience. On this subject 
how solemn and unmistakable is the assurance of the 
very One who is the only Sacrifice for Sin. Says our 
Lord: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I 
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just. "^ In such 
plain words does He tell us that His blood may not 
wash away that one sin, to do which would interfere 
with man's inviolable sovereignty of will; and that, 
inasmuch as He may not be a Sacrifice to obtain its 
pardon. He must become its Judge, and according to 
its due measure. For it is. He adds, the Father's 

1 T John 5: i6. 2 Col. i: 24. 

3 Matt. 12: 30-37. Ex. 23: 20, 21. * John 14: 16, 17. 

s John 5 : 30. 



6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



will; — aye, for the good Father would have His 
children gods, and not machines; — and so, however 
much He who came to die for men yearned to 
deliver them from Sinfulness and Suffering, never- 
theless He would do the Father's will. And thus 
do we find the Triune God, — Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, — solemnly pledged to the unmitigated judgment 
of Sinfulness, according to its degree. 

§3. Salvation from Suffering. — In regard to 
the Salvation from Suffering, it must be remembered, 
that the sole object of the reproofs of the Holy Spirit, 
who only resorts to reproof, because He may not 
pardon, is to "guide into all truth.'' **For, " we are 
told, "the Lord will not cast off for ever. For though 
He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according 
to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth not 
afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."i 
And accordingly our Saviour declares, "He that be- 
lie veth in Him (that is, who believes, among other 
things, in the exact truth of what He utters, and that 
the judgment of God will extend even to the idle 
word, 2 and who acts pursuant to his belief) is not 
judged"; and for the very good reason, as the Divine 
Speaker goes on to show, that there is nothing in him 
to condemn. He doeth truth; his deeds being "made 
manifest, that they are wrought in God. " ^ In other 
words. Suffering is one of the means by which we are 
stimulated and guided in our Work. We are made 
perfect through Suffering. 4 And so, when the end is 
fully attained, there ceases to be a reason for the ex- 
istence of Suffering in the universe of the God of Love. 

1 Lam. 3: 31-33. 2 Matt. 12: s^. 3 John 3: 18-21. 

■* I Pet. 5: 10; 4: 13. Heb. 2: 10. Rom. 8: 18-22. 



Salvation from Sinfulness and Suffering 7 

Hence, with the exact consistency which always marks 
the words of our Lord, He tells us that the believer 
in Him, or the man of perfect faith and corresponding 
deeds, is not judged. There is none of that Sinfulness 
in Him which may not be pardoned. It follows, that 
as Suffering has only a purpose of love, the infliction 
thereof is regarded in the Bible as the veritable proof 
of the Love of God,i or by no means as a mere weapon 
of the devil. And in harmony with this, in the parable 
at the beginning of the Book of Job, we are mercifully 
taught that Satan may not lift his hand for evil against 
a man, without the previous permission of the Most 
High; and that the measure of the evil is rigidly 
prescribed. It thus becomes a matter of course, that 
with the Salvation from Sinfulness effected, that 
from Suffering will be also obtained. "For His 
anger is but for a moment; in His favour is Life: 
weeping may tarry for the night, but joy cometh in 
the morning. "2 As David sings again, ''The Lord is 
full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and 
plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide ; neither 
will He keep His anger for ever. "^ (a) 

§4. Salvation from Sinfulness and Suffering 
AN Individual Matter. — It will thus be seen that 
one of the three salvations has been already obtained, 
and was the free work and gift of God in Christ; and 
that the other two are yet to be obtained, and are 
dependent upon the Works of each individual in effect- 
ing his Salvation from Sinfulness. We are already 
immortal, but are still in a state of Sinfulness and 

» Heb. 12: S-13. Ps. 119: 75. Prov. 3: 11, 12. Deut. 8: 5. 
Rev. 3: 19. Job 5: 17, 18. 

2 Ps. 30:5. 3 Ps. 103: 8, 9. 



8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Suffering. If we may apply the words of The Revela- 
tion, "The one Woe is past; behold, there still come 
two Woes hereafter."^ If, indeed, Final Death had 
overtaken us, there would have been truly but ''the 
one woe. " But because it was not suffered to do so, 
for that very reason ''there still come two woes here- 
after." Many Christians look upon Christ as saving 
them from the judgment according to deeds; little 
realising that it is His very Salvation of us all from 
the common and instantaneous judgment of Final 
Death which has brought upon us, respectively, the 
judgment according to deeds; and that He is Himself 
the Judge by whom it is administered. We ignore 
what the long experience of life should fasten upon 
our memories; namely, that the wounds of the soul 
are no more easily or speedily healed than the wounds 
of the body; — nay, less so; — and that in both cases 
alike it is we ourselves who must apply the remedies 
which are freely furnished of Almighty God. Al- 
though we repent and have faith in our Lord, that 
repentance and faith have not worked a perfect cure, 
until it becomes impossible for us to sin any more ; 2 
and surely that faith in Jesus cannot be perfect, which 
does not believe His repeated statements that He 
always and most impartially judges us according to 
our deeds. However, repentance and faith are them- 
selves works or deeds; and when perfect, result in 
perfect deeds ; so that the judgment according to deeds 
becomes in all strictness only a judgment according 
to needs. If we realise these things in all their various 
bearings, we shall have to discard all theological 
opinions which stand in the way of our perceiving 
that the First Coming of the Son of God to save the 

1 Rev. 9: 12. 2 I John 3: 9. 



The Three Salvations 9 

world from Death implies and necessitates His im- 
mediate Second Coming to judge the world according 
to the deeds of its prolonged Life. As He Himself 
says, ''Now is the judgment of this world," ^ — even 
the seonic ''now"; that is, from son to aeon, or from 
life to life. And again: "He that belie veth not is 
judged already. " 2 

§ 5. The Three Salvations — Foundation and 
Superstructure. — ^The three salvations when ob- 
tained may be compared to a completed "mansion" 
occupied by a happy tenant. ^ First, the "Foimda- 
tion" is laid by Him alone by whom only it could be 
laid, namely, Jesus Christ. Then the Superstructure 
is reared thereupon by the personal labours and suffer- 
ings of the expectant owner; and according as he builds, 
so is his reward; his worthless material of "wood, hay, 
stubble," being all destroyed; and his "gold, silver, 
precious stones," carefully preserved.* And finally, 
when the Superstructure, so reared, shall be pro- 
nounced safe and durable and in all respects complete 
by the Heavenly Judge, the occupant is joyfully ad- 
mitted to his abode. The Foimdation, it will be 
perceived, is of a dual nature, to wit, the Salvation 
from Death effected by our Lord, in doing away by 
His blood with the normal penalty of Sin, and, next, 
the sending of the Holy Spirit. The Superstructure, 
when completed, is the Salvation from Sinfulness, 
accomplished through the repentance and faith of 
the individual saved. And the consequent admission 
into the heavenly mansion is the Salvation from 
Suffering. To designate, respectively, the Foimdation 

» John 12: 31. 2 John 3: i8. 3 John 14: 2. 

*i Cor. 3: 8-17. 2 Tim. 2: 19-21. 



lo The Foundation and the Superstructure 

and the Superstructure, St. Paiil is rich in diversified 
nomenclature. It is, in particular, what he under- 
stands, on the one hand, by ** Faith," meaning the 
Work done through "the Faith of Jesus Christ,'* 
whereby is shone forth ''the Righteousness of God"; 
and on the other, by ** Works," meaning those of 
men; the purpose of the distinction being, to repre- 
sent that it is the former, and not the latter, which 
must effect man's Salvation from Death, and obtain 
for him the indwelling Spirit; and that, on the con- 
trary, it is not Grace, or the Faith of Christ, but the 
Works of men, stimulated by the indwelling Spirit 
and by non -compulsory judgments, which must effect 
the Salvation from Sinfulness. 

§ 6. Salvation and Death before and after 
Christ. — ^There is one more thing, growing out of 
what has been stated, which I would have the reader 
clearly understand from the beginning. It is the im- 
portant difference between Death as the Wages of 
Sin before and after the great work of our Lord in 
giving Life to the world. Before that work, the normal 
wages of Sin was absolute and final Death irrespectively 
to all. It was the total annihilation of all sinful Life, 
and is what is properly meant when it is said, that we 
"were by nature children of wrath." We were alto- 
gether under the wrath of the strict law of God ; being, 
as it were, or under the law, dead through our tres- 
passes and sins.i For Sin could not be allowed to 
defile the imiverse of the omnipresent God. Before 
His holy eye no evil should be permitted to exist. 
The necessity from this arising for an immediate new 
gift of Life to the sinner to preserve his existence is 

1 Eph. 2: 1-5. 



Salvation, Death, before and after Christ ii 



•obvious. And it is for this reason, with the usual, 
supernatural harmony of the Christian system, which 
takes such wonderful note of every detail, even though 
the deliverances of truth came through humble, ignor- 
ant fishermen, that we are repeatedly told, how our 
Salvation from Death was effected by anticipation 
long before the creation of free-will beings, and long 
before their consequent liability to fall ; — ^how the Lamb 
was "slain from the foundation of the world" ;i or how 
we were redeemed ''with the precious blood of Christ 
as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot: 
who was provided indeed before the foundation of 
the world, but was manifested in the latest times for" 
us. 2 It is owing, accordingly, to the merits of the 
Cross having been efficient from the beginning of 
man's existence upon earth, that the race has been 
preserved alive; and it follows, that there never was 
a time when man was actually in the state by nature, 
to be a child of wrath, and therefore to be exterminated. 
He has always been sheltered from Final Death under- 
neath the everlasting arms,^ through God's mercy in 
Christ. What then have the merits of man, and the 
external ceremonies prescribed to him under the 
providence of God, to do with the great work of 
the Son of God which those ceremonies are intended 
to illustrate? We have been saved from Death by 
anticipation, irrespectively, and "bom anew," or gifted 
with new Life, from the foundation of the world, or 
ages before a single external ceremony was instituted, 
or a single human being was bom. And the Son of 

» Rev. 13:8. 

2 1 Pet. i: 18-20. See also Rom. 8: 29; 16: 25, 26. Eph. i: 
4, 5, 9-1 1 ; Col. 1 : 26. See §95. 
3 Deut. 33: 27. 



12 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



God came therefore in later time, simply to complete 
or manifest in act what He had already done by antici- 
pation. Is there anything that can more vividly show- 
forth the vanity of man in imagining that he can do 
aught to give potency to the great regeneration of 
mankind by the Son of God? The need of a new Life 
by sinners was duly foreseen and provided for from 
before even the time that it was needed. 

§ 7. Salvation and the First and the Second 
Death. — Since then Final Death has been caused to be 
from the first as though it had never been, or at least 
will in due time only overtake the ''old man'* of 
sin within us, and never the new, — ^who, indeed, 
''cannot sin, because he is bom of God,"i — ^we must 
distinguish between the Death from which we have been 
saved, and that which has succeeded to it, and is now 
the wages of Sin. What other can this be in respect 
of those who are immortal than our existing con- 
dition of imperfection and suffering under which we 
now groan and travail? How^ often it is referred to 
in the Bible as a state of Death! and how it differs 
from normal Death, in that it is a living Death, whose 
conscious horrors are prolonged! Because, indeed, 
it is altogether a different sort of Death from the other, 
and yet, as the present wages of sin, is the actual 
successor to and substitute for the other, it receives 
at times in the Bible the title of "the Second Death. "2 
Like the old Death, it is common to all that sin; but 
yet is a second sort of Death again, in that it differs from 
the other in degree, in its application to the respective 

1 I John 3: 9. 

2 Rev. 2: 11; 3: i; I* 18; 20: 14, 15; 21: 8. Jude 12. Matt. 
8: 22. 



Salvation and First and Second Death 13 



sufferers; being a judgment strictly according to 
deeds, 1 and not precisely the same judgment upon 
all alike without regard to their differing merits or 
delinquencies. From this it will be seen, that the 
Cross of Christ, instead of saving us from strict justice, 
as is the common error, actually brings it upon us; — 
nay, that strict justice is only possible through "eternal 
redemption ' ' from the old Death, and the consequent 
prolongation of our lives for ever ; that thus at all times 
it may be duly administered. Well, therefore, may 
St. Paul cry out against those who fail to grasp the 
Christian idea, and would distort the truth by him 
declared. The apostle supposes them to ask, as 
doubtless many in his day did ask, "Shall we continue 
in Sin, that Grace may abotind?"2 In view of the 
horrible misconstructions which are still put upon St. 
Paul's writings, the question is practically answered 
in the affirmative by many a procrastinating soul 
among us. But those who realise as they shoiild, that 
it is even Grace which brings upon us to the full the 
judgment according to deeds, have a personal reason, 
apart from the irreverent audacity of thus desiring 
our Lord to be the minister of Sin, for crying out in 
prayerful answer with the apostle, "God forbid." ^ 
For just as the old Death was the certain wages of 
Sin, so certain is the Second Death; and as immediate, 
to him who persists in his Sinfulness; and it is our just 
Lord himself who surely brings the judgment thereof 
upon us, and in full measure. ^ 

» Rev. 22: 10-20. 2 Rom. 6: i. 

3 Literally, "Let it not be." 

* We do not recognise how sure, and immediate, and persistent, 
is the condemnation of the judgment according to deeds, because, 
if we did, it would be coercive. Its certainty in these respects is 
therefore hidden, and becomes, like other spiritual truths, a matter 



14 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§8. The Existence of Evil and the Light of 
Revelation. — So strong are the prejudices of precon- 
ceived opinions, especially in regard to theological 
subjects, that it might have been better, perhaps, to 
have opened the way for the expression of the above 
truths by considerable preliminary argument. But 
I have concluded that the reader would follow what 
I have to say with clearer mind, if he kept in view these 
things from the beginning; especially if he should be 
altogether blinded and oblivious to them by reason of 
the prevailing wide divergences of views. There is cer- 
tainly lacking among us, in general, a proper apprehen- 
sion of the Christian system, and of its relation to those 
great problems which have exercised the brains of 
religious thinkers of all ages, both of those who had, 
and of those who had not, the Bible for their guide. 
The fundamental problem of the existence of evil brings 
into strong light the abortive madness of the human 
mind when it attempts to find out God by theory, 
without the aid of revelation. The experience of all 
the centuries has taught us, that the imaided human 
intellect can never solve this problem. But I am 
speaking not so much of the origin, as of the prolonged 
existence of evil. Indeed, we needed not experience 
to tell us the essential weakness of the human reason 
in such matters, but only a moment's consideration. 
For how can man comprehend his Maker, or the 
fulness, efHciency, and nature of the divine resources? 
If, surely, we cannot understand how, after an eternal 
preexistence of unchangingly non-creative effort, an 

of faith. To the eye of sense it is rather the wicked who are in 
great prosperity, while the good seem to be the sufferers. See 
Ps. 73. As it is said, "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief 
in the night, " i Th. 5:2. 



Evil and the Light of Revelation 15 

illimitable, unchangeable God should for the first 
time have called into existence a finite creation, 
although one incapable of doing or suffering evil; 
then, of course, for the action of a wise, merciful, 
and all-powerful Creator to result in prolonged 
moral taint and misery, is to add greatly to our 
unsolvable difficulties. How, pray, can that which 
is morally marred be suffered by the holy God to 
continue to exist ? Even though we may admit the 
power of a free-will creation to originate evil, from 
whence, pray, does it derive its renewed Life^ after 
the taint of evil has cut it off from God? Apart 
from express revelation, how is it possible for the un- 
aided reason to answer this question? In respect 
therefore of so fundamental a problem, how wholly 
unsatisfactory have been the wild conceptions and 
theories of men! — the notion of dualism, for example, 
which only succeeds theoretically in reducing to utter 
helplessness the omnipotence, love, and mercy of the 
good God, and in putting against Him one who is more 
than His match on the side of evil! or of pantheism, 
which even dares to make Him one with the evil, and 
a Protean monster! Let the reader then, at the start, 
fully realise that "the secret things belong unto the 
Lord our God"; and that no argument is worth the 
making, which is based upon an attempted conception 
by the finite mind of the Infinite God. It is only 
the "things which are revealed" which belong 
unto us ;i and we must take them as we find 
them, without any attempt to be wiser than that 
which is written. And we must strictly do this; 
confining our theories, even as we are absolutely 
confined in fact, to our own finite sphere. In 

« Deut. 29: 29. 



i6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



all unrevealed matters agnosticism is the only true 
philosophy. 

§ 9. The Origin of Evil in Man's Free Will. — 
But in ''those things which are revealed," also, let 
us realise the Immense difference between material 
and spiritual things; and that at best the natural 
can only faintly shadow forth the supernatural. ^ 
To us, therefore, on the plane of Nature, the Bible 
is compelled to speak in parables ; and we must accord- 
ingly be exceedingly careful how we attach a literal 
significance to spiritual verities. It is the Bible itself 
which gives us the caution; telling us with authority 
that spiritual things must be spiritually discerned 
and discriminated. 2 It declares plainly, that the letter 
killeth, — ^utterly destroys the true idea, — but that 
the spirit giveth life.^ And so our Lord says to liter- 
alists of every kind, and in everything, that His words 
are spirit and life,^ and that He speaks in parables. ^ 
How many an unbeliever has only illustrated his own 
folly, by attacking on scientific grounds — is it not 
laughable? — ^the great parable at the beginning of the 
Bible of a perfect creation, and of that creation's sub- 
sequent fall! To be consistent, he should also find 
fault with^sop, because he said that his animals talked. ^ 

1 Some argue, from the unvarying laws of matter, the same un- 
varying laws in the spiritual world. Why is it not as sensible 
to reverse the process, and argue, from the sovereign spontaneity 
of the spiritual world, that matter is a free agent? It is simply an 
argument, in the face of common-sense, that there can be no differ- 
ences between matter and spirit; but that in all things they are 
one and the same. 

2 I Cor. 2:6-16. 2 Cor. 4:18; 3:6-14. 3 2 Cor. 3; 6. 
* John 6: 63. s Matt. 13: 3, 9-17. 33-35- 

« But those persons greatly mistake who imagine that unbelievers 
cannot discern spiritual things. If that were true, no unbeliever 



Fall, Redemption, and ^onic Judgment 17 

And how many a Christian has in his turn bolstered 
up the folly of the unbeliever, by himself also reading 
the parable as literal history! And yet, the only 
satisfactory solution to a reasonable mind of the facts 
aroimd us — of the terrible misery and sin with which 
we are daily confronted — is that God created a godlike 
creation, and even because it was godlike, and had a 
sovereign will of its own, — even because it had been 
endowed within its own sphere with an inviolable 
sovereignty, which no outside control was to be suffered 
to mar, and therefore could know evil as well as good, — 
that it did just what the gift of free-will sovereignty 
made it able to do, namely, introduced evil, or saw 
fit to exercise its sovereignty amiss. It disobeyed its 
Creator, who from the beginning commanded the good, 
and of itself fell into the evil. What more satisfactory 
solution than this can there be of the origin of evil ? — 
always provided, however, pursuant to the Bible, 
we make the Adam of its parable to be the designation 
of ourselves, and of course in some former existence. 
Said the sacred writer : "This is the book of the gener- 
ations of Adam. In the day that God created man, 
in the likeness of God made He him; male and female 
created He them; and blessed them, and called their 
name Adam, in the day when they were created.'* ^ 

§ 10. The Fall, Redemption, and ' ' ^Eonic " Judg- 
ment. — ^And let us here take note of the appropriate 

could ever become a believer. Not so; for all men are gifted with 
the Spirit ; and that Holy Indweller is continually reminding them 
of their solemn duties and responsibilities; so that they are without 
excuse. All therefore have the spiritual eye, even as they have 
spirits, and are held responsible for its use. But like other spiritual 
or other gifts, the spiritual eye also becomes strengthened or 
enfeebled, according as it is employed or neglected. 
1 Gen. 5: I, 2. 



i8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



position in the Scriptures of the great supernatural and 
spiritual parable of Adam and Eve thus placed at the 
beginning of the Bible; for it is but natural that the 
statement of a universal death should precede the 
revelation of a universal restoration to life. We should 
first learn the spiritual significance of the parable, that 
**in Adam all die," before we further proceed to learn, 
that **in Christ shall all be made alive." ^ And just 
as the sun which illuminates the world looks back 
in setting to the eastern horizon from whence he rose, 
so it is most appropriate again, that in the closing 
revelations of the Bible the great subject of the fall 
should come before us with added significance and 
interest. When one reads among the marvellous 
revelations of St. John a similar story of the fall of 
the angels that sinned, following the repeated references 
to that fall by his fellow apostles, and how the fallen 
angels were cast down to this very earth of ours, 2 
and as St. Jude also expressly tells us, how the Lord 
hath kept them "in everlasting bonds under darkness 
for a judgment of a great day," ^ it is remarkable that 
one should conclude these latter revelations to be 
reflecting back light upon the parable which began 
the Bible, and all of them together to be luminous with 

» I Cor. 15: 22. 

2 Rev. 12: 4, 7-12. 2 Pet. 2: 4. Jude 6. See Job 4: 18, 19; 
15:14-16. John 8: 44. i John 3: 8. 

3 Jude 6. This translation is Hteral, — not "unto," at least in 
the sense of "until"; the Greek preposition having no deferring 
sense. Indeed, to give it that sense is wholly unjustifiable. 
Moreover, the definite article, twice added in our versions in 
Jude 6 ("unto the judgment of the great day"), is not in the 
Greek. Hence, the passage is made to express the views of 
the translators, instead of the declaration of St. Jude. Sim- 
ilar mistranslations, changing the sense of scripture, are fre- 
quent in the versions, growing out of the misconstruction of the 



Fall, Redemption, and ^onic Judgment 19 



that which is of the deepest personal interest to us all, 
and to which the most advanced ideas of evolution are 
in close relation ? ^ Certainly it becomes most satis- 
factory to our minds to know, that the good God 
who made us has a mercy which endureth forever; 
and while He may not consistently interfere at all 
with the inviolable characteristics of our godlike nature, 
seeing that His gifts are never repented of; still, even 
because His heavenward calling is never revoked, 2 
that He pursues unvaryingly, and in the strictest 
manner, the only course which is left open to recover 
us from our fallen condition. That is, among other 
things. He must administer to us according to our deeds 
an "aeonic judgment," ^ or a judgment which goes on 

same preposition. According to the correct translation, the bonds 
indeed are everlasting, because they denote that which pertains 
to God, or to be always just. The bonds therefore will endure; 
but "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
habitation, " are only reserved in the bonds and under darkness 
"for a judgment of a great day. " The inference is, that after the 
great day has ended, they will be restored to "their own habitation," 
or will "rise again." Matt. 22: 30. 

1 See Rom. 8: 18-23. ^ Rom. 11: 29. 

3 Heb. 6: 2. — The word aioov {cBon), so often used in the N. T. 
in the original Greek, is always a word of time, and normally means 
life, referring to the period. It may denote the life of a person, 
animal, supernatural being, and, figuratively, of a place, institution, 
or other thing, — even, at last, of God and of eternity. In very rare, 
abnormal instances it may refer also to the manner of life. Be- 
cause of its normal idea of life as a period, with a beginning and an 
end, the adjective formed from it should have normally the sense 
of from life to life, corresponding to the senses of other adjectives 
formed from words of time, whether in Greek or English. Thus 
" daily " means from "day to day, " "yearly " "from year to year, " 
etc. But the original and subsequent uses of the word are more 
thoroughly exhibited in The Purpose of the Mons. Suffice it here 
to say, that in Greek, again and again, things are described as of 
asonic duration, which have long since passed out of existence; 
their existence having been csonic while it lasted, or continuing 



20 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



from life to life, in exact correlation with our changeful 
condition; (a) "the new man" within each one receiving 
''seonic life," according to the progress made, and 
*'the old man" corresponding "aeonic destruction " j ^ 
the individual being exposed always, until the end 
is reached, or until the new, immortal Life casts out all 
mortality, 2 to that "unquenchable," "consuming 
fire," whose merciful purpose it is, in each one, to 
burn up the "chaff" or "tares" of the devil's sowing, 
bundle by bimdle; — in other words, to destroy out of 
every fallen creature all that is evil, — ^without in the 
least consuming or coercing the individual himself. ^ 

§ 1 1. Evil, and the Biblical Method of Redemp- 
tion. — Of course, all this presupposes an existence on 
our part extending in the past, as well as in the future, 
from life to life, and therefore rightly termed "seonic." 
Except in these and similar, somewhat indefinite 
ways, the Bible would seem to make no revelation 
of our having had a past history. For in respect 
of its original, exalted character, followed by what 
must have been its extreme horrors, 4 the merciful 

from life to life, from generation to generation, from age to age, 
during the aeon of the things spoken of. In Sirac. 43 : 6 an aeon 
is just one month, to wit, the monthly periodic cycle, i. e., life, 
of the moon. 

1 2 Th. 1:9. Hence, not the momentary and complete de- 
struction of the First Death, but a continuing destruction; one 
which has to endure banishment from the visible presence of 
the Lord, seeing not the glory, but the terror of His power; or, 
according to St. Peter, a destruction which slumbers not; but the 
sinner, while destroying, is destroyed; while doing wrong, keeps 
receiving the wages of wrong-doing (2 Pet. 2: 3, 12, 13 of r. v.). 

2 2 Cor. 5:4. I Cor. 15: S3, 54. 

3 I Cor. 3: 15. Matt. 3: 12; 13: 24-30, 36-43. 

* If Darwinianism be our witness in the spiritiml sense, they 
must have been extreme indeed, and terribly prolonged. See 



Evil, and Biblical Method of Redemption 21 

principle of the Bible is, to have us forget what is 
behind, and reach forth unto the things which are 
before. Certainly, however, there is no satisfactory 
solution of an existence in a fallen condition, such as 
the Bible clearly represents ours to be, other than 
that God originally made us all upright, and that it is 
we ourselves personally, or not in the person of a remote 
ancestor, who have sought out the evil.i Our natural 
sense of justice is not satisfied to be told that we have 
inherited a moral taint, as a sufficient justification of an 
undesired birth in sin and misery ; unless we can add to 
the declaration that we ourselves have had our full 
share in the incurring of the moral taint. 2 But if, 
as the Bible seems to imply, we not only had this 
share, but even helped to pull one another down, then 
it becomes not a mere generous act, but a strictly 
moral debt, demanding full payment, that we should 
be brought to do our full share in both voltintarily, 
and also involuntarily, helping to pull one another, 
as well as ourselves, up to the height from which we 
have fallen. In other words, it requires the personal 
fall of a former existence to solve to our satisfaction 
both the inherited taint and also the fact and the 
necessity in the world of involtmtary vicarious suffering. 
In this point of view, the upward progress which 
we are slowly making from low conditions, instead 
of being in any sense a reproach to the Creator, be- 
comes His glory. For in place of destroying us. His 
ungrateful enemies, as is our normal desert, He is 

Ps. 36: 6. Eccl. 3: 21. Gen. i: 20, 21, 24, etc.; 2: 7. (See the 
Heb. for "living creature" and "living soul, " and their substantial 
identity, in the foregoing texts) — Rom. 8: 18-23. 

1 Eccl. 7: 29. 

2 See Deut. 24: 16. 2 K. 14:6. Jer. 31 : 29, 30. Ezek. 18: 1-4,. 
20. Gal. 6: 5, 7. 



2 2 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



bringing about our full restoration, with our god- 
like sovereignty unmarred. Tenderly, too, from time 
to time, He wipes from the memory each one's 
horrible past, and keeps before him a hopeful future. 
Fully preserving in the erring creature all that is 
godlike. He even gives him the glory of working 
out his own salvation from his sinful condition. 
And then, when at last the work is accomplished, 
it is called the resurrection; that is, the rising 
again; and those who rise again are said to become 
as the angels in heaven. ^ Clearly, the parables and 
repeated deliverances of the Bible are not satisfied 
in the fulness of their meaning, until victory shall 
have crowned the struggle of the newly begotten 
Life within us, and ''the old man" of sin is burnt 
up for ever in the consuming fire of God's wrath: 
and until thereupon the new man, who cannot 
sin, because he is bom of God, shall receive his 
well-fought-for reward. But, moreover, those para- 
bles and deliverances do further indicate, that it 
is sheep who have been ''lost" from the heavenly 
fold who will be thus restored; and that He who 
descended from heaven, leaving the many sheep 
who were safe in that fold, went out into the wil- 
derness to search with imwavering purpose for the 
lost until they were found; and that, accordingly, 
in the resurrection of men, it is "the angels that 
sinned" who are restored, and who become once 
more "angels in heaven." For how else could 
the Psalmist sing, "O give thanks unto the Lord; 
for He is good: for His mercy endureth for 
ever." 2 

» Matt. 22 : 30. See Luke 2 : 34. 

2 Ps. 107: I. Luke 15: 3-7. Matt. 18: 11-13. 



Mystery of Continued Existence of Evil 23 



§12. Redemption, and Mystery of Continued 
Existence of Evil. — Can any one imagine a more 
satisfactory solution of ''the mystery of evil," ^ than 
that which the Bible reveals as beginning with a fall, and 
ending with the creature's rising again ; so that, at the 
last, without loss to the creature's godlike nature, all 
things shall again be in complete subjection to God, 
and God all in all? 2 And yet, to tell of the fall, and 
even the future rising again, is no explanation of the 
whole mystery of the present, continued existence of 
evil. For however correctly informed we may be 
as to the origin and purposed final overthrow of evil, 
we are none the less unable to imderstand in what 
way its existence can be prolonged^ or why the sinner 
is not at once utterly destroyed. But if there is to 
be a purpose of mercy, and full opportunity for refor- 
mation, we see the more the necessity for the persistent 
sinner to obtain in some way, and have preserved, a 
new Life, in order that his sin may not have its normal 
result, and that in the progress of time he may be 
delivered from all Sinfulness, and receive the reward 
of blessedness. And yet, while we have this clear 
understanding of the necessity of a new Immortal Life, 
and also of Holiness, the manner of our obtaining these 
blessings cannot be known to us except by revelation 
from Heaven. In respect of the necessity, then, we 
cannot but recognise, even if it had not been made a 
statement of revelation, that the normal and proper 
wages of sin is, and should be. Death ; and that in the 
very day in which a creature eats of forbidden fruit, 
his tainted existence should altogether end. As 
naturally as we would cleanse ourselves when defiled 

1 2 Th. 2: 7. 

2 I Cor. 15: 22-28. Eph. i: 9, 10. Phil. 2: 10, 11; 3: 21. 



24 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



with filth, so we cannot but conclude, that from the 
universe of the omnipresent God should be entirely 
wiped out all that would be offensive to His pure and 
holy presence. It is, indeed, because of this instinctive 
realisation of what should be the due fate of sinners, 
that unto all ages, and in all religions, the Existence 
of Evil has been felt to be a mystery. The necessity, 
therefore, in order for sinners to live at all, of some 
Redemption from Death, or from that blotting out 
of existence altogether, which should be the due wages 
of Sin and Sinfulness; — that is to say, the necessity of 
a gift to them of a new Immortal Life, after the for- 
feiture of their old Life ; — is a matter which is entirely 
cognisable by the reason. But when we come to the 
manner in which that necessity is to be supplied, 
or how the needed Life and Immortality are to be 
gained, reason at once finds itself beyond its depth. 
It is however a fitting preparation to the better realisa- 
tion of the supernatural merits of the Bible system 
to know, that we ourselves with our natural faculties 
can discern what prime necessity there is for an act of 
Grace from the God of Love, whereby the Life of 
sinners may be continued in the universe of the pure 
and holy God; and that to obtain this continuance 
they were utterly helpless in themselves; — in other 
words, that of pure Grace He, and not they, must 
effect their Redemption from Death and Restoration 
unto Life; giving them, indeed, in the face of Sin 
and Sinfulness, a Life which shall be so clean in His 
sight as to be no more subject to final Death ;i thus 

» And Revelation declares this Regeneration already to have 
been accomplished. Thus, Tit. 3: 4-7, "But when the kindness 
and love toward man of God our Saviour appeared, not because 
of works, (to wit), those in righteousness which we have done 



Revelation the Only Key to the Solution 25 



abolishing Death, and bringing Life and Immortality 
to light. 1 

§ 13. Revelation the only Key to the Solution. 
— ^And yet, apart from Revelation, we cannot know 
how God will do this, and at the same time reconcile 
therewith His awful Justice and Holiness; or how 
in any respect a defiling sinner can be caused to appear 
clean and righteous in the sight of Him who cannot 
tolerate iniquity, and whose frown of Death shoidd 
wither all uncleanness into non-existence, (a) Nay, 
we are even told, that it was a mystery to the angels 
in heaven. 2 And we can well understand how the 
holy angels must have been exceedingly puzzled, as 
they looked down from their happy heights upon the 
protracted duration of all the evil, in so many forms, 
which was spinning out its miserable existence upon 
this earth of ours, and which evil must to them have 
appeared to demand an immediate and everlasting 
termination. Certainly, however, the mystery is one 
which, on its divine side, requires the great God to 
be satisfied, and neither angels nor men. The solution 
of the mystery belongs therefore entirely to Him; 
while to us it can only be a matter of Revelation ; and 
until the Revelation comes, if even the holy angels 

(whether therefore of faith, penitence, or baptism,) but according 
to His mercy He saved us {i.e., all mankind), through a washing 
of regeneration and a renewing of a holy spirit, which He poured 
out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that having 
been justified by His Grace, we should be made heirs, according to 
hope, of eternal Life." Many high authorities give "should have 
been made heirs." In either case the idea is the same. "For 
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified 
freely by His Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus." — Rom. 3: 23, 24. And see 5: 18 and 2 Tim. i: 9, 10. 
1 2 Tim. 1: 8-10. 2 I Pet. i: 12. Eph. 3: 9, 10. 



26 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



sought in vain for a reasonable explanation, surely it is 
not for us to attempt to gaze beyond that which is 
supernaturally written. But the fact of the mystery 
is before our very eyes. The truth of the continued 
existence of that which should die cannot be reasonably 
denied. We are compelled therefore, whether we 
understand it or not, to believe that some way has been 
found whereby sinners can live without being so 
offensive to the holy God as to incur the normal 
judgment of extinction. To repeat, therefore, we 
realise the necessity of a Redemption from Death, 
and of a Justification whereby we may continue to 
live, and are thus prepared for the supernatural 
Revelation as to the Manner How; which we also 
realise as infinitely beyond our power to discover for 
ourselves. 

§ 1 4. Necessity of an Invulnerable New Life . — 
But before going on to the Manner as revealed from 
Heaven, let us have some better conception of the 
Necessity which is comprehensible by man, and in 
its dual aspect as pointed out by the unaided eye of 
reason. It would seem then to be clearly necessary, 
that there should be within each fallen creature en- 
gendered not only sl new life, or that we shall be re- 
deemed from Death for sins of the past, but a new 
Life which will nevermore demand to be wiped out 
by reason of sin ; or which is made holy and acceptable 
unto God, and carries with it its constant justification. 
Such a holy Life, of course, can only be begotten 
in fallen man by God Himself, in whom alone is the 
Source of all spiritual life. That is to say, our Life 
must be made invulnerable both as to the past, the 
present, and the future. In scripture language we must 



Necessity of an Invulnerable New Life 27 



be * 'born of Water and the Spirit ; " 1 or be both cleansed 
and made holy, and as freely and as involuntarily 
as a child is born into the world ; — even doing nothing 
whatever to obtain this Life. How, indeed, we can be 
thus divinely born, and in a dual sense, we cannot of 
ourselves discern; but still, it is none the less evident, 
that only from God can Life be derived; and that 
in some way, which must be satisfactory to Him, the 
curse of impending Death must be removed, and 
man be cleansed from his sins, and the future made se- 
cure. That every creature owes its entire Life to the 
Creator, and if it fails to pay the debt, also its Death, 
shows at once the double necessity for the divine inter- 
vention, both in respect of Life and Death. For if the 
erring creature is to be made immortal, notwithstanding 
its unpaid debt both of Life and Death, not only can no 
creature remit the sins of another's past, or confer upon 
that other Life for the future, but what in any respect 
can a creature do, however high or holy, even if he 
does his utmost, more than pay his own debt? If 
he does his all, he only does his duty. 2 We do not of 
course understand how the Son of God can become 
man, or how, as man. His holy Life and Death can 
become the substitute for a sinner's. Enough for us 
that it is so revealed from the great Creditor to whom 
our Life and Death were owed. But we do under- 
stand that by no less than One who is uncreate, and 
therefore has not the creature's debt, could the pay- 
ment of Life and Death be made; and accordingly, 
that we must be born of a divine cleansing, and with 
a new holy Life derived from God, or of the Divine 
Water of Life, and of the Divine Spirit; that is, not 
of earthly things, but of heavenly and Divine. And 
1 John 3:5. 2 Luke 17: 10. 



28 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

so, by the Power of God alone, to be immortal, we 
must be redeemed from the Death due to the past, or 
be washed clean from all offences, and, in addition, 
must be made so holy and righteous, as nevermore 
to incur the due wages of sin. Thus our reason clearly 
perceives a dual necessity in order for us to attain 
immortal Life: first, that there shall be a Redemption 
from Death, or cleansing like as of water, because of 
the past, or because of Sin and its wages; and, next, 
that, in respect of the present and the future, there 
must be a Justification of Life. That is to say, there 
must be begotten within every sinner, by the only 
Source of Life, a new, clean Life, which cannot sin, 
because it is begotten of God. ^ He Himself must 
become our Father, and to be His children, we must 
inherit a righteousness which is of Him, and is freely 
given to all alike. 

§ 15. Redemption and Man's Dual Nature. — But 
if this were all, we should be dangerously near the 
border line of coercion, — indeed, in order to ensure our 
godlike holiness, would seem to have been deprived 
of our godlike sovereignty of will. The miserable 
and sinful facts of our being assure us, however, that 
this is not so. There is in every man, in truth, not- 
withstanding his regeneration, the unmistakable evi- 
dence that "the old man" within him has not been 
coercively destroyed; or that each one has, verily, 
two diverse spiritual natures, or a dual existence, in a 
spiritual sense, of which he will be distinctly conscious 
on turning his thoughts within. He will find there, 
in particular, two distinct wills, the moral and the 
immoral, in more or less constant and vigorous warfare, 

1 I John 3: 9. See §§ 15a, 124 and 124b. 



Redemption and Man's Dual Nature 29 



according as the one or the other has been suffered to 
become dominant. The one is always on the side of 
right, and belongs of course to the new Life, which 
is the child of God. The other loves the evil, and evi- 
dences as plainly its proper paternity. **In this the 
children of God are manifest, and the children of the 
devil."! Most theologians divide men into two classes ; 
but the least introspection confirms the Bible in making 
the spiritual duality to be within each individual ; and 
the daily facts of human life will further confirm the 
Bible in demonstrating that the new man within us, 
which is the child of God, was not created by baptism, 
any more than that the old man of * 'nature," which 
was born in sin, and is the child of wrath and of the 
devil, was destroyed thereby. 2 It was the sad conscious- 
ness of this dual existence which caused the baptised 
St. Paul to cry out, "O wretched man that I am! 
who shall deliver me from the body of this death P"^ 
When we ftilly realise both the wheat and the tares 
to be within ourselves, or that we are both children of 
God and of the devil, and that the tares may not be 
coercively cast out, without uprooting also the free-will 
wheat, ^ we shall, perhaps, have taken out of us some of 
the detestable spirit of thinking ourselves better than 
others, merely because of our theology, and shall 
the more deeply feel the necessity of each one working 
out his own Salvation from Sinfulness with all fear and 
trembling. 5 It was not without point that the devil 
in the parable is made to tell Adam that he should know 

1 I John 3: 8-10. 

2 The sacraments are means of grace or help; but are neither 
creative nor coercive. They are properly signs. To use our Lord's 
language of one of them, it "shows forth" — i. e., reminds, teaches. 

3 Or rather, "this body of death. " Rom. 7 : 24. 

4 Matt. 13: 24-30, 36-43. s Phil. 2: 12. 



30 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



himself to be as a god by disobeying his Maker; for 
the act of disobedience did certainly assure him of the 
complete possession of a godlike sovereignty of his 
own, in that he could do as he pleased, even to the 
putting himself in opposition to the sovereignty of 
his God, to know evil as well as good, (a) 

§i6. Redemption and the Irrespective Nature 
OF God. — But in its conclusions respecting the necessity 
of the new birth of Water and the Spirit, or of the 
Redemption from Death and the Justification unto 
Life, the reason cannot logically ignore the irrespective 
nature of God ; — ^not so long as the visible facts of the 
natural world continually show it forth : — for example, 
that "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on 
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust";^ that there is also no discrimination among 
us in respect of the fruitful seasons which fill our hearts 
with food and gladness; 2 that His many differing 
laws are stable to one just the same, and as invariably, 
as to another ; that His seas do bear upon their bosom 
the ships of the wicked just as well as those of the 
righteous; and that He giveth to all the very things 
now under consideration, namely, life and breath, 
as well as all things. ^ These facts prove His mercy to 
be over all His works, and that He has never ceased 
to love the creatures whom His own hands have made. 
And so, when we consider the relative degrees of merit 
among men, and yet, that all alike are deserving of 
Death, the fact that the existence of all, nevertheless, 
should be perpetuated, with common gifts showered 
indiscriminately upon all, evinces also that His 
mercy for all endureth without cessation, and without 

» Matt. 5: 45. ^ Acts 14: 17- ^ Acts 17: 25. 



Redemption and God's Nature 31 



respect of persons. And not only this; but when we 
further consider, that along with these conxmon gifts 
of love there is exhibited at the same time a common 
judgment upon all in accordance with their deeds, there 
is demonstrated in addition a common purpose in be- 
half of all, which the imchangeable Creator keeps ever 
in view for the advancement and exaltation of His 
creatures. In contemplating, therefore, all this irre- 
spective dealing, manifesting Him to be absolutely 
without respect of persons, we have the strongest assur- 
ance of His consistent character, and of the same 
irrespective dealing in all things. We may fairly con- 
clude, in particular, that that new birth which the 
reason recognises as the necessity of every fallen 
creature has become equally the property of all; 
or that there must be a universal Redemption from 
Death and Justification unto Life. Assuredly, an 
irrespective God will not act graciously for one sinner, 
and not for another. If He redeems one from Death, 
He will redeem all from Death. If He justifies one 
unto Life, He will justify all imto Life. If one is bom 
of Water and the Spirit, then will all be born of Water 
and the Spirit. Hence it was that St. Paul told the 
pagan Greeks, that the Lord was ''not far from each 
one of us " ; expressly adding, ''For in Him we live, and 
move, and have our being; as certain also of your own 
poets have said. For we are also His offspring. "^ And 
so too to the Galatians the apostle said: "When the 
fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, 
bom of woman, bom under law, that He might redeem 
those who were under law (that is, all men), that we 
might receive the said sonship. And because ye are 
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into 

» Acts 17: 27, 28. 



32 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou 
art no more a servant (under the penalty of the law of 
Death), but a son; and if a son, then an heir through 

G0D."1 

§17. God Justifies all Men unto Life. — It is the 
great thought, that all men have been not only redeemed 
from Death, but also justified unto Life, through 
being regenerated by the great Giver of Life, and made 
His very children, which so constantly animated the 
zeal of St. Paul as the special apostle to all nations; 
and it is the same great thought which must per- 
meate our own hearts and minds, before we shall ever 
be able to attain unto a sympathetic appreciation of the 
all-comprehending idea which runs through the many 
loving statements of the great apostle's epistles, or 
to follow with accuracy the grand chain of reasoning 
in behalf of all men which is pursued in some of those 
epistles, — ^notably, the ones to the Romans, the 
Galatians, and the Ephesians. It is to be regretted 
how few of the deep thinkers among Christians, from 
the ancient Augustine and the logical Calvin to the 
many followers of each, seem to have been able to 
catch, in particular, the universal and loving spirit of 
the Epistle to the Romans. Many a babe in Christ has 
gathered comfort and hope from its loving and merciful 
assurances, where to the wise and prudent the meaning 
has appeared mysterious, gloomy, and terrible. And 
doubtless of my own readers the greater number will 
fail to realise that the very line of thought which I 
have been herein pursuing is in great part that of the 
noble epistle. Let me in very brief form — although 

1 Gal. 4: 4-7 — lit. "the sonship, " "the (said)" referring to 
3: 26 etc. declaring us "sons of God." 



Paul's Message — Justification by Faith 33 



I have done it elsewhere, and more than once,^ — 
outHne the apostle's argument therein. I would call 
special attention to the universality upon which the 
argument is based, and to its corresponding uni- 
versal conclusions; — ^how, forasmuch as all alike 
had sinned, the Jews just the same as the Gentiles, 
therefore the merciful, irrespective God foreordained 
the recovery of all alike; and to that end recalled 
them to Life, justified them in His sight, and 
glorified them by adopting them all to become His 
children. 

§ 1 8. Paul's Message — ^Justification by Faith. — 
St. Paul significantly begins by declaring his divine 
mission to be, to preach the good news of his faith 
among all nations, and, among others, to the Romans. 
His argument opens, however, with the statement, 
quoted from Habakkuk, that that man only who is 
righteous has a faith which entitles him to live. 2 Just 
as St. James tells us that a perfect faith, such as was 
that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Lord of glory, 
and which his Christian readers did not have, would 
produce perfect works, making its possessor just or 
righteous,^ so St. Paul declares, that it is the just or 
righteous man who shall live by faith. In other words, 
if a man's faith is perfect, so that he will do no sin, then 
he will not incur sin's mortal penalty, and shall therefore 
live. The manner of the opening shows a consciousness 
on the part of the apostle that his oral teaching of the 
gospel had been wrested to the destruction of souls. He 
knew that the same thing would happen also in the 
case of his epistles; just as we are told by St. Peter 

» In The Purpose of the ^ons for example. 
2 Rom. i: 17. Hab. 2:4. 3 Jas. 2 ch. 

3 



34 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



that such wresting did really occur ;i and, it may be 
added, just as there is the same wresting to this very 
day. St. Paul is very careful, in consequence, to let 
men know that they cannot be justified unto Life by 
any faith which does not perfectly keep the holy law 
of God . 2 In the same way he says also to the Galatians : 
'*For as many^ as are of the works of the law (that is, 
as many as do not justify themselves by doing all the 
works of the law, or who are not perfect keepers of the 
law) are under a curse (i. e. , that of Death) : for it is 
written : Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
things which are written in the book of the law, to 

» 2 Pet. 3: 16. 

2 In the LXX. (the Greek version of the O. T. made about 274 
years before Christ), Hab. 2:4 is thus given: "If he should draw 
back, my soul has no satisfaction in him: but the just man shall 
live by my faith. " If this be the true idea of the passage, the 
prophet is referring to the fall of man, and his recovery through 
the perfect Righteousness or "Faith" of Christ, the only just or 
righteous man. Note, in the verses going before, with what lofty 
emphasis the prophecy is introduced, and how marked is the 
assurance that it will be fulfilled in its season. In Heb. 10: 38, 
Codex "A," besides other eminent ancient authorities, and Rom. 
i: 17 of Codex "C, " etc., have also, "But the just man shall live 
by my Faith. " To see that this is the great idea of St. Paul in 
looking to " the Faith of Christ " alone for our justification, compare 
Gal. 3 : 8-14, where in verse 8 we find God to be the Justifier by 
Faith; and in verses 11, 12, that no man can be his own justifier; 
and this very quotation is given as the reason, inasmuch as his 
faith has not kept the law, and it required for him to live to have 
a faith that kept the works of the law, and made him a " just man." 
Hence in verses 10, 13, 14, we are told that so far from being justi- 
fied man was cursed, and that Christ has redeemed him from that 
curse; the nations receiving the promised blessing of eternal Life 
through His (Christ's) Faith. The passage is quoted literally at 
the end of this section. 

3 We shall several times have occasion to notice how in the 
scriptures, and especially in St. Paul's writings, "many" is a 
common synonjon for "all,'* This is important, and should be 
remembered. 



Irrespective Character of Divine Justice 35 

do them. And that no man is justified in law in the 
sight of God is evident: for, The just shall live by faith; 
and the law is not of faith (that is, the keeping of God's 
perfect moral law is not done of our faith) : but, The 
man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath 
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
curse for us : for it is written, Cursed is every one that 
hangeth on a tree : that upon the nations ^ might come 
the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus ; that we might 
receive the promise of the Spirit through His Faith." 2 

§ 19. Paul and the Irrespective Character 
OF Divine Justice. — But to return to the Epistle 
of the Romans. From the preliminary statement that 
in order to live by his own faith a man must be just 

^ I. e., Gentiles and Jews alike. 

2 Gal. 3:10-14. Literally, " through the Faith. " The article, 
however, according to familiar Greek usage, " so ably illustrated by 
the learned Bp. Middleton, ... is neither more nor less than the 
demonstrative or relative pronoun," It here refers back to the 
Faith of Christ mentioned in 2: i6, 20. For the apostle, having 
expressly declared that our imperfect faith could not justify, 
because it had not kept the law, looks for a Faith which could. 
That Faith he invariably declares to be "the Faith of Jesus Christ." 
Without warrant the versions drop the article from the passage al- 
together, and thus obscure St. Paul's meaning; although they have 
no difficulty in repeatedly translating the article as a pronoun, 
when it does not militate against the theological opinions of the 
translators; — so great is the unconscious influence of one's doc- 
trines in such a matter. We might also translate the article "that," 
or "the said, " or "the above-mentioned," etc.; but it is more neatly 
rendered "His." "In fact, as the article involves in all cases a 
reference, it is plain that it may oftentimes limit the sense of a 
passage, and preclude all interpretations but one." (Bp. Charles 
James Blomfield, The Greek Article, History of Greek Literature^ 
EncyclopcBcLia Metropolitana, pp. 351, 352. The bishop's remarks 
of course are general, or without special reference to this passage.) 
The whole context of Gal. 3 : 14 shows what is the one limitation 
of the article therein. 



36 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



or righteous, the apostle immediately proceeds to charge 
that no man is just or righteous. And this he does 
first in the case of the Gentiles; charging them with 
doing all manner of horrible things, although they had 
had fully revealed to them, in the unmistakable facts 
of the natural world, that the wrath of God was against 
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, thus leaving 
them without excuse. Accordingly, the apostle affirms 
that the Gentiles had had due evidence of the penalty 
which was the wages of sin ; both, for that matter, of the 
First Death, and also of the Second. But to use his 
own words, they knew "the decree of God, that they 
which do such things are worthy of Death." ^ And 
he emphasises it as a truth known also to his readers : 
''And we know that the judgment of God is according 
to truth against them that do such things.*' 2 Having 
thus shown the Gentiles to be by the divine law under 
the sentence of Death, the apostle's next step is to 
call distinct attention to the irrespective character of 
the divine justice; expressly declaring that Jew and 
Gentile will have a common judgment; for, he says, 
"there is no respect of persons with God."^ With 
this most appropriate preface he turns in the second 
place to the circumcised Jews, who were regarding 
themselves, because, forsooth, of a sacrament, as 
being exempted from the common judgment. He 
pleads with the Jews that, inasmuch as they too were 
sinners, just like the Gentiles, their very circumcision, 
which engaged them by express covenant to keep 
the whole law of God, had, because of its violation, put 
them on the same footing with the uncircumcised, and 
was no longer protecting them from the great penalty of 

» Rom. 1:18-32. Rom. 2:2. 

» Rom. 2:3-13. 



Redemption Only Through Christ 37 

God's violated law; and that therefore the judgment 
of the irrespective God would be the same upon them 
as upon the Gentiles. For, he declares, ''not the 
hearers of law are just before God, but the doers 
of law shall be justified." And his conclusion there- 
fore is, that all classes of men are alike (by nature) 
under the mortal penalty of sin; as it is written, not 
one being righteous, no, not one. Thus, he says, every 
mouth is stopped, and all the world becomes guilty 
before God.^ In other words, there is not one just 
man to live by his faith ; and the necessity for all alike 
to have a Redeemer and Justifier becomes clear. 

§ 20. The World Lost, Redemption only through 
Christ. — Let me put the apostle's argument thus far 
in the form of a syllogism. And first in respect of the 
common judgment of Death; that is to say: "Whoever 
breaks God's law is under sentence of Death. All men 
have broken that law. Therefore, all men alike are 
under sentence of Death." And next as to the im- 
possibility of self -justification unto Life; that is to say: 
"The just man shall live by his faith. But no man is 
just. Therefore, no man shall live by his faith." 
It will be seen that the true basis upon which St. 
Paul's reasoning rests is that all men are sinners, or 
the universality of sin; thus making no man to be 
a favourite of the irrespective God above another, 
but all alike to be under the common sentence of 
Death, and needing to be redeemed therefrom, and 
justified unto Life. It is therefore with a whole 
world in themselves hopelessly lost, that the apostle 
points to the Messiah, the Son of God, as the common 
Redeemer and Justifier of Men. But let me here 

» Rom. 2: 12-29; 3:1-19. 



38 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

remind the reader that, while the human reason thus 
sees the obvious necessity of Redemption and Justi- 
fication, and the equally obvious fact that they have 
been gained for all — for men, instead of suffering the 
immediate penalty of being wiped out of existence, 
have clearly had their lives prolonged^ — ^the human 
reason can never discover for itself the manner by which 
the necessity has been supplied. What may be a 
satisfactory Redemption and Justification imto God, 
it is of course not for men to say. For the good news of 
the manner how, therefore, we must be altogether be- 
holden to Revelation; and when thereby authorita- 
tively told of the Lamb slain, in anticipation of God, 
from before the foundation of the world, 2 we must 
gratefully take the Revelation just as it was made. 
As believers in the Bible, we recognise in its lofty 
statements that holy truth which keeps ever in view 
the honour and glory of God, as well as the highest 
good of man ; and we are filled with admiration at its 
superhuman consistency in these respects, and because 
it gives us also a more reasonable explanation of the 
facts of mundane existence than man has ever been 
able to think out for himself. That it should do all this, 
and show at the same time how ignorant on the natural 
plane were in general its several writers or compilers, and 
some of those of the Old Testament even gross, makes 
it the greater miracle. In every respect the evidence 
is complete, that in supernatural truth it was guided 
by the divine wisdom, and not at all by that of man. 

» That Life should be prolonged for a moment implies immor- 
tality; for even that moment shows Redemption and Justification; 
for unless cleansed and justified, why should we live? and if cleansed 
and justified, why should we die? 

2 Rev. 13: 8. I Pet. 1:19, 20. Eph. i: 4. Rom. 16:25, 26. 
I Cor. 2:7. 2 Tim. i : 9, 10. Col. i : 26. Tit. 1:2,3, ®^* 



Salvation through Blood of Christ 39 



And accordingly, it is not for man to add to or sub- 
tract from, or in any wise alter or modify, its manifest 
inspiration in regard to that which it is beyond the 
mind of man to discover. If in things above us we 
attempt to be wiser than that which is revealed from 
God, and to know more of the necessity for atoning 
sacrifice than He Himself, our reason will inevitably 
find itself in the deep waters where it can make no 
progress, and where, as in the case of the dualist and 
the pantheist, it will be sure to be drowned. 

§ 21. Life and Death of Christ Satisfied God 
FOR Lost World. — It was a privilege, highly valued by 
the apostle of all nations, after showing forth in the 
strong manner which has been described the imiversal 
necessity of Redemption and Justification as so entirely 
cognisable by our reason, to be able to proclaim unto 
all men the imiversal accomplishment thereof through 
the Life and Death and Resurrection from the dead 
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who, satisfactorily unto the 
Divine Nature, fulfilled in our place the Law of Right- 
eousness by His perfect Life of Righteousness, and 
also by His Death suffered for us the full penalty of 
its violation ; and who yet, being without sin, could not 
be holden of Death; who therefore burst its bonds 
for us all, and rose from the dead. And here, let 
us observe again, as we proceed with St. Paul's gieat 
argument, how logically true he is to the universal 
basis upon which he started ; and how he makes nothing 
to be done by the irrespective God in behalf of one 
undeserving sinner, which is not done in behalf of all 
undeserving sinners. His next step, therefore, is to 
tell, in such plain terms as to make us wonder that 
his words should be so wrested as they have been, of the 



40 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



universal Redemption and Justification of all sinners 
alike; even expressly declaring that there can be no 
difference between believers and unbelievers in the 
matter, since all had sinned, and not one could presume 
to be so righteous, or to have such perfect faith, as to 
be entitled to live in the presence of God. Accordingly, 
following up what he had said, he thus continues 
(3 : 20-30) : 

§22. Paul's Argument — Salvation through Blood 
OF Christ. — " Because by works of law shall no flesh be 
justified in His sight {i. e. be so righteous before God as 
not to be condemned to perish) : for through law (is) the 
knowledge of sin (and, but for Christ, would be of its 
penalty, Death). ^ But now the righteousness of God 
without (man's keeping) law 2 {i. e. without our righteous- 
ness) is manifested, being witnessed by (the perfect fulfil- 
ment by Christ of) the law and the prophets; even the 
righteousness of God by Faith of Jesus Christ ^ unto all 
(without exception),^ and (also) upon all them that believe: 
for there is no difference (i. e. between believers and un- 
believers in the matter of Justification unto Life): for all 
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (or of the 
perfect righteousness which God requires to justify Life) ;^ 
being justified (or made righteous so as to live) freely by His 
Grace through the Redemption (from Death) that is in Christ 
Jesus: whom God hath set forth (to be) a propitiation through 

1 Gen. 2: 17. 2 Or, "apart from law." 

3 Literally, "God's Righteousness through Jesus Christ's Faith," 
or neither our works nor faith; neither having aught to do with our 
Justification. See also Rom. 5 : 18, and 5 : i, 19, 9. Gal, 2 : 16, 20; 3 : 
10-14, 21, 22. Eph. 2: 8-10; 3: 12. Phil. 3: 9. Col. 2: 12, etc. 

4 " For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make 
the Faith of God without effect? God forbid." Rom. 3:3, 4. 
" For God hath concluded all as regards unbelief, that He might 
have mercy upon all." Rom. 11: 32. See i Tim. i: 13, 14. 

5 Matt. 5 : 48. 



Paul's Argument 41 

the same Faith, ^ by His blood, 2 for a demonstration of His 
righteousness, through the remission of the sins that are 
past by the forbearance of God ; to a demonstration (I say) 
of His righteousness at the present time; that He might 
be just and justifying, the (justifying) by Jesus' Faith. ^ (a) 
Where is the ^ boasting then? It is excluded. (Wholly 
so ; the believer having no cause for boasting because of his 
inefficient work of faith over the unbeliever, nor the Jew 

» Literally, "through the (i. e., that or the same or His) Faith," 
to wit, the Faith of Jesus Christ previously mentioned; the Greek 
article referring back to "His Faith." 

2 His Faith obeyed the Law, and His Blood paid its penalty; and 
so, His Life and Death became our Righteousness before God. 

3 Literally, "that He might be just and justifying, the (i. e., this) 
by Jesus' Faith. " The Greek article, as we have seen, has the 
force of a demonstrative or relative pronoun (which is by Jesus' 
Faith), and refers in an example like this to the word immediately 
preceding. God is inherently just, but He becomes justifying 
through Jesus' Faith or Righteousness as a Man. The words 
"the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (a. v.) or "the 
justifier of him which hath faith in Jesus" (r. v.), are not in the 
sacred text, but are the views of translators as to what St. Paul 
should have said, substituted in the place of what he did say! 
And yet there can be no plainer Greek; and the use of the Greek 
article as indicated is of common occurrence. See for a few perti- 
nent examples the Greek of verse 24 just before; i Tim. i: 14; 2 
Tim. i: 13; Gal, 2: 20. I cite these examples because of their 
pertinency to the subject. But in a general way the article so 
used is too common to require illustration. In fact, Rom. 3:26 
is a remarkable example to show how little the babe in Christ should 
depend upon the authority of "the wise and prudent." If he wants 
to get an unprejudiced translation of Rom. 3:26, let him get it 
from a schoolboy, who does not know how it has been translated in 
our Bibles, and who has some knowledge of the use of the Greek 
article when placed after its subject, and no theological views. So 
far from St. Paul, contrary to the entire logic of his argument, 
affirming God in Jesus to be only the Justifier of the believer, he 
expressly states Him just below to be the Justifier of the ungodly 
(Rom. 4:5), and in 3: 23, 24 of all men. 

4 The reference back of the article here is twofold; first, to the 
Jew, who, the apostle had said, rested in the law, and made his 
boast of being God's favourite, because of his circumcision; and 



42 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



over the Gentile, because of his sacramental observances; 
but all being justified alike by the Faith of Jesus. And 
so all boasting by the justified is excluded) . Through what 
manner of law? of Works? Nay: but through the law 
of Faith (or the law as perfectly kept by the Faith of 
Christ who thus manifested the Righteousness of God). 
We reckon therefore that a man is justified by Faith (the 
Faith which kept the law, or the Faith of Christ) without 
(the man himself doing) Works of law. (One of these, 
indeed, is his own work of faith. Since God is thus the 
impartial Justifier of all) is He (then) the God of the Jews 
only, and not also of the (unbelieving) Gentiles? Yes, 
of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one (and the same) God 
which shall justify the circumcision by (Christ's) Faith, and 
the uncircumcision (of the idolatrous, unbelieving Gentiles) 
through the (same) Faith," ^ 

§ 23 . All Men Are Sinners and Require Common 
Justification. — ^The making of any distinction be- 
tween different classes of men in the matter of Justi- 
fication unto Life where all were on the common 
level of sinners, and already dead in the eye of the law, 
and therefore utterly incapable of faith or other works, 
would have been intolerable logic, and both destructive 
of St. Paul's argument, and out of harmony with the 
irrespective nature of God. And as St. Paul was con- 
scious that men were continually wresting his words 

secondly, to the believer, who, though a sinner, and equally with 
the unbeliever under the wrath of the law, thought himself only- 
entitled to be justified; and would thus, the apostle had said, make 
"the Faith of God " of no effect to the unbeliever. (Rom. z'- Z-) 

1 The force of the Greek article is here very plain. In all these 
instances such words as "same," "said," etc., which are really 
essential in translating the proper force of the Greek article into 
English, should be left out of parentheses or brackets; but I insert 
either the parentheses or the brackets, that the reader may see 
what is the literal Greek form. Rom. 3 : 20-30. 



All Men Are Sinners 43 



in order to create distinctions which would favour the 
Jews, or believers in Christ, or a predestined few, in the 
matter of justification, he was the more careful to 
destroy the fell spirit of exclusiveness. He had begun 
by stating that for a man to live by faith (and it is the 
same whether the man be a pagan, a Jew, or a Christian) 
he must be just or righteous; or that only a perfect 
faith which brought forth perfect works could be ac- 
ceptable unto God. Charging all alike, therefore, to 
be sinners, he showed that all alike required a common 
justification, independently of themselves and of their 
own faith or righteousness, if they were to be per- 
mitted to escape being wiped out of existence, and live. 
He shows accordingly the folly of distinguishing be- 
tween sinners that were Jews and sinners that were 
Greeks or barbarians; or between sinners that were 
believers and those that were unbelievers. ' ' For what , ' ' 
he says, '*if some did not believe? shall their unbelief 
make the Faith of God (or, as he afterwards more 
explicitly says, 'the righteousness of God by Faith 
of Jesus Christ,' who is the common Justifier of all) 
without effect?" ^ And in the lengthy passage which 
I have quoted the apostle declares with similar empha- 
sis the free justification by Grace of unbelievers and 
believers alike; for that all have sinned.^ So, later 

» Rom. 3:3. In every passage where the revisers could, they 
have turned St. Paul's "the Faith of Christ" into words which 
denoted a believer's faith in Christ. But here that expedient would 
not answer. And so, they turned "faith" into "faithfulness!" 
So powerful is the grip of a false theology. 

2 The revisers, because of a few ancient authorities, strike out 
the troublesome words "and upon all." But they felt it a duty 
to put into their margin "Some ancient authorities add and upon 
all. " The omission of these words in ancient authorities shows 
how early was the venturesome wresting of the apostle's words. 
That it is an omission seems clear; for the words are necessary to 



44 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

on, the apostle speaks of God as the Justifier, not of 
believers, but of the ungodly ; ^ and still later on, his 
words are, "By the righteousness of One (the free gift 
came) unto all men to justification of Life." 2 And 
at the close of his argument his universal meaning 
as to believers and unbelievers is again made unmis- 
takably apparent, thus: ''For God hath concluded all 
as regards unbelief, that He might have mercy upon 
all." 3 

§ 24. Faith or Works of Christ Gave Life 
TO All Men. — To return, however, to the thread of 
the argument. In the fourth chapter of the epistle the 
inspired writer illustrates the gratuitous Redemption 
and Justification by the Faith of Christ which had 
saved the world from Death, and made it appear so 
perfectly righteous before God that it could live. He 
compares the wonderful result to a similar result on 
a limited scale brought about by the faith of Abraham. 
For because that faith had been accounted righteous 
in order that the truly righteous Faith of Christ might 
have its antecedent type, the old patriarch was repre- 
sented to have rebegotten his son into Life, saving the 
latter from the otherwise inevitable decree of being 

give point to the "for there is no difference: for all have sinned," 
etc. Moreover, even where a mistake is honest, still, as against 
putting in or leaving out, addition or subtraction, the latter is 
always the more likely to be the mistake. And in cases of fraud, 
addition is not so likely as subtraction; something new being more 
noticeable than something left out. 

1 Rom. 4:5. 

2 Rom. 5 : 18. The r. v.'s translation is here also intolerable; for 
St. Paul's evident idea, literally translated, is "through one's 
(Adam's) transgression," on the one hand, and "through One's 
(Christ's) righteousness," on the other. See §35. (a) 

3 Rom. II :32. 



Christ Gave Life 45 



wiped out of existence at the hands of Abraham, 
who is called by the apostle the typical father of all 
men. And to bring out still further the recondite 
significance of the scriptural parable as showing forth 
universal redemption and justification, the inspired 
writer points out that the typical faith of Abraham 
was represented as having been exhibited before he 
was circumcised ; and that the intention of the allegory 
was to teach that he was to be regarded as the typical 
father not only of the Jews, but of the Gentiles as well. 
In the Epistle to the Galatians St. Paul uses the same 
illustration. After therein in like manner declaring 
that we could not be justified by our own works, but 
that we are now living **by the Faith of the Son of 
God," who loved us, and gave himself for us, ^ he 
says: "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was 
accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye there- 
fore that they which are of (Christ's) Faith, the same 
are (like Abraham's son, saved by faith, and therefore 
in the parable are) children of Abraham (or children 
rebegotten into Life by a father's faith). And the 
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations 
{i. e. all men) by (Christ's) Faith, preached the gospel 
beforehand unto Abraham (saying), In thee shall 
all the nations be blessed. So then these by (Christ's) 
Faith are blessed along with the faithful Abraham." 2 
Thereupon the sacred writer declares the violators of 
the law to be under the curse of Death; expressly 
stating (as already quoted) ^ that no man can live 
by his own faith, because he is not righteous, and does 
not keep all the works of the law.-* The apostle 
continues: ''Christ hath redeemed us from the curse 

» Gal. 2:16, 20. 2 Gal. 3: 6-9. 

3 See § 18. *GaL 3:10-12. 



46 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

of the law, being made a curse for us: . . , that 
upon the nations might come the blessing of Abraham 
in Christ Jesus ; that we might receive the promise of the 
Spirit through His Faith. ^ . . . Now to Abraham 
were the promises spoken, and to his Seed. He saith 
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of One, And to 
thy Seed, which is Christ. . . . For if there had 
been a law given, which (men having kept) could have 
preserved alive, verily the (above-mentioned) righteous- 
ness (which is so essential to Life) would have been from 
(man himself keeping) law. (a) But the scripture hath 
concluded all things 2 under sin, that the promise by 
Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that 
believe. But before His Faith^ came, we were kept^ un- 
der law, being concluded^ for His Faith ^ which should 
afterwards be revealed. So that the law hath been 

» Literally, "through the (i. e., above mentioned) Faith." 

2 Ccncliided; — shut up all — stopped the mouths of all. See 
Rom. 11: 32; 3:19. All things. Was the neuter gender pur- 
posely used here, to indicate the nothingness of the dead before 
the law, or to extend the meaning to all creatures, or both ? 

3 Lit. "the Faith." Men's faith had come from the beginning, 
and was so imperfect that it had resulted in Sin and Death. But 
Christ's Faith was "revealed" at a later day; and the result was 
Righteousness and Life. The importance of the article (omitted 
in our versions) is here most striking, and its significance unmis- 
takable. It cannot refer to man's faith, but only to Christ's. 
Although we read of men having obtained a good report through 
faith, yet, it is said, they received not the promise (Heb. 11: 39). 
Why? Because the promise was by Faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. 
3 : 22, 23), and "that Faith " had not come. It was to be a revela- 
tion of the Righteousness of God. See also verse 14. 

* Kept, while the law was threatening. Compare the same 
word in i Pet. i : 5, — "kept {i. e., preserved or guarded from Death) 
by the Power of God through (Christ's) Faith unto salvation ready 
to be revealed in the last time. " 

5 Shut up in guilty silence in respect of our own faith or other 
works, awaiting Christ's Faith. 

Lit. "the Faith." 



Universal Justification 47 



our tutor for Christ (teaching us the need of a Re- 
deemer and Justifier), that we might be justified by 
(Christ's) Faith. But His Faith ^ having come, we are 
no longer under a tutor (being no longer threatened 
with Final Death). For ye are all children of God 
through the (said)2 'Faith in Christ Jesus.' " 3 That 
is, the Faith or Works of Christ gave Life to all men, 
and made them children of God, after their own faith 
had resulted in Death. 

§25. Universal Justification and Individual 
Sanctification. — In all that has been said it will be 
seen that the apostle proclaims always for the due jus- 
tification of men, not our righteousness or imperfect 
faith, but the Righteousness of the perfect God Himself 
as manifested in the Faith (the equivalent of the perfect 
Works) of Jesus Christ. And this will be found to be 
his meaning at all times; although he generally makes 
various grades of condensation in expression, until, at 
last, he reaches the ultimate one of simply ** Faith" 
and ''Works"; meaning by the former the Righteous- 
ness displayed in the Life of Jesus Christ, and by the 
latter both the Righteousness and Unrighteousness of 
men. (a) St. Paul is never so illogical as to make the 
very instrumentality which brought Death upon men 
to be the means of restoring the non-existent to Life. 
But it is this justification of all men irrespectively, 
as the sole work of our. Lord, which he invariably 
means by his ' 'Justification unto Life " ; or that in some 
way, which is beyond our powers of comprehension, 

» Lit. "the Faith." 

2 The article is in the Greek, but does not appear in our versions, 
the translators not having perceived its referring force. 

3 Gal. 3 : 13-26. 



48 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



a sinful race, which otherwise would have been a blot 
upon the universe of God, has been perpetuated in 
existence, cleansed by anticipation of God from before 
the foundation of the world in the blood of Jesus 
Christ. The sacred writer does not mean in the slightest 
degree that our existing sinfulness has been taken 
away; or that because of what Christ has done, if 
only we will believe therein, we are now ready for 
heaven. In this respect, if sins are to be remitted, 
they must be sins of the past,^ or sins which have 
been repented of and forsaken. The most cursory 
reader of St. Paul's epistles ought to see, that upon 
the Foundation of a renewed Life and the indwelling 
Spirit, the laying of which Foundation could only be 
the work of the Son of God, or of that manifested 
Life which proceeds only from God, the inspired writer 
always insists that there must be a Superstructure of 
perfect, actual Holiness and Righteousness erected by 
the works of each individual man. 2 And so he draws 
a distinction between universal justification and indi- 
vidual sanctification. And always in the latter part of 
his epistles, whenever he has been speaking specially of 
universal justification, he enlarges at considerable length 
upon the necessity and profitableness of good works. (6) 

§ 26. God's Justice Shown by Deeds. — In plain 
words, the apostle never casts a slur upon the merits 
of Christ, by representing them as sending sinners, or 
the unperfected, to heaven. Indeed, he is particularly 
careful to show, that not even by their restoration to Life 
does Christ in any sense become *' a minister of sin."^ 

i Rom. 3:25. 2 Pet. 1:9. 

2 Or that we must make our calling and election sure (2 Pet- 
1 : 10). 

3 Gal. 2: 17. 



God's Justice Shown by Deeds 49 



Has the reader ever duly considered the fact, already 
mentioned, that the Saviour of sinners from Death 
forthwith becomes the Judge of their lives, — even 
the great Judge of all the earth? And has the truth 
come home to us, that it is only possible by being 
saved from Death to have a judgment which shall 
be according to the deeds of each individual, or a 
judgment which shall more strictly conform to the 
character of a God of irrespective justice? For had 
the actual judgment of all been the everlasting ob- 
livion of a common Death, there could have been 
no graded justice according to the differing merits 
or demerits of individuals, and it would be in fact 
to the very worst that God would be most partial; 
since they would receive no more punishment than 
the best. Thus in all strictness, in the justification 
of St. Paul, God is even shown to keep Himself 
just by justifying. In His unfathomable wisdom He 
devises the method by which sinners shall not be 
suffered to compromise His own eternal justice, even 
while He exhibits towards them His eternal love and 
mercy. On the other hand, more even than by the 
common Death of sinners, would that eternal, irre- 
spective justice have been compromised, if, by any 
ignoring the differing merits and demerits of individuals, 
universal justification, perpetuating the lives of all 
alike, had also meant universal, actual sanctification. 
And, of course, the compromising would be intensified, 
if the compulsory sanctification were of a part only, 
and not of all. In the matter of sanctification, there- 
fore, in no other way could the equal, irrespective 
justice of God be displayed, than by a judgment which 
shall be always according to deeds. If we duly realise 
this great truth, we shall discard at once and for ever 



50 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



all thought of the compulsory conversion and perfection 
of sinners, whether in the case of ourselves or others, 
and whether in this life or at its close, or during any- 
subsequent life. ^ 

§ 27. Sanctification and the Unpardonable Sin. 
— ^And we shall also begin to have some idea of the 
true nature, as before shown, of the Unpardonable 
Sin, or the sin against the Holy Ghost, who is the 
Eternal Sanctifier. Whatever a free Justification may 
do for all sinners, it is very clear that it has reached 
its limits when we come to their Sanctification; and 
that at this point all compulsory means of Grace have 
an end. The unsanctified heart, which, of course, and 
in us all, is in opposition to the special work and office 
of the Great Sanctifier, and is accordingly the one 
special Sin against the Holy Ghost, can never be 
pardoned — ^neither in this life, nor in that to come. 
It has been already mentioned how irrevocable are 
the gifts of God, and, among others, that great gift of 
sovereignty of will with which we have been endowed ; 
and how the irrespective, non-coercive judgment of 
us all according to our respective deeds is both showing 
forth the inviolability of our individual sovereignty, 
which may not be compelled to righteousness, and alsa 
the consistent carrying out by Almighty God of the 
exalted purpose in behalf of each and every one for 
which that wonderful sovereignty was given. When 
Nature, therefore, keeps daily exhibiting before our 
eyes both the wilful sinfulness of men, and the non- 
coercive justice of Almighty God in respect thereof, 

1 Well, therefore, did St. Paul challenge criticism when he asks, 
"Do we then make law of none effect through the said Faith?" 
God forbid: nay, we establish law." (Rom. 3:31.) 



Salvation Obtained by Individual 51 

she constantly and fully confirms the assertions of in- 
spiration, that the gifts and calling of God are alike 
without repentance, or change of mind, or that the 
mercy of the Lord endureth forever, and that Sin- 
fulness is altogether impardonable. On the one hand, 
however sinful we may become, or however little our 
Sinfulness may be, we may be sure accordingly, that 
that Sinfulness, much or little, cannot be compulsorily 
wiped out, and must be judged with imcompromising 
justice by the Eternal Judge. It may neither be ignored 
nor pardoned. To the last we shall be judged according 
to our deeds. In other words, as God cannot pardon, 
but one remedy is left ; and it is for us to use it or not 
as we please ; namely, to get rid of our Sinfulness our- 
selves, through the non-compelling aid of the Eternal 
Sanctifier, or of that very Holy Spirit against whom 
by our unsanctified condition we are daily sinning, 
and provoking to unpardoning wrath. 

§28. Salvation from Sinfulness Obtained by 
Individual not Given by God. — It thus appears, that 
where God's compulsory Grace comes to its end, man's 
Work begins. Man could not save himself from Death \ 
because as a sinner he was already dead in law, and the 
execution of the sentence of Death as a fact had to 
be averted by other means. But so soon as that great 
deliverance was accomplished for him, and the new 
Life had been bom, and had become the meet temple 
of the indwelling Spirit, the child of God was at once 
made able to work for himself. If before his Redemp- 
tion from Death and Justification unto Life he was 
utterly helpless, he is now made all-powerful; because 
he has the power of God always ready to help him, 
according as he chooses to avail himself thereof. 



52 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



For the tender Father is so solicitous for the high 
exaltation of the creature in all his sovereign capacity, 
that He gives him the glory of all the Works within 
his limited power. Nay, we are expressly told, let 
us remember, that if there had been a law by the 
keeping of which the creature could have gained the 
continuance of even Life, verily he would have been 
suffered to be righteous by the keeping of law, and 
would thus have had the glory also of saving himself 
from Death. ^ But while this salvation of the sinner 
was necessarily a gift of Grace, and had had to be solely 
wrought out by the Redeemer and Justifier of all men, 
without any Works on the part of those that are 
redeemed and justified, whether for themselves or one 
another, it is otherwise in respect of the Salvation from 
Sinfulness. Unto those that are now able to work for 
themselves the loving Father insists upon giving 
the glory of so doing; while upon those who will not 
work at all, or who work in varying degree, what else 
was there for the irrespective Father to do, but on the 
one hand to use persuasive measures, or those calculated 
to influence the reason and the heart, and on the other 
to mete out His stimulating, but non-compelling 
judgments according to the several deserts of those 
whom His love would not allow to be destroyed ? And 
thus, instead of pardoning Sinfulness, the unchangeable 
God who has irrevocably conferred upon each creature 
a sovereignty of will, with all consistency persistently 
demands that it is for the sovereign creature himself 
to make his calling and election sure,^ or to work 
out his own salvation with fear and trembling ^ from 
that which cannot be pardoned. The least coercion 
of the sinner would neither be for his glory, nor that 
» Gal. 3: 21. 22 Pet. i: 10. 3 phil. 2: 12. 



Works and Sufferings of Men 53 

of God. To the extent of the coercion, the creature 
would have his godHke nature destroyed, and be made 
a machine ; while the great God would not only be man- 
ifested as regardless of merit, and as putting the evil 
upon the higher level of the good, but would exhibit 
Himself to His creatures as finding pleasure in prais- 
ing Himself, and in self-worship through machines of 
His own construction. If at any time a man is to be 
coercively converted or perfected, the question at once 
arises. Why was not the inconsistent, partial, degrading 
method arbitrarily resorted to from the beginning, and 
the intervening sufferings and sins of the tardily coerced 
individual spared ? Why resort at one time to coercion, 
and previously thereto, by withholding the coercion, 
prolong and add to his misery and disgrace? And 
why all the while should false hopes be deceitfully 
held out by a God of truth to those unfavoured ones 
who are never to be in any way converted or perfected? 
For the glory of God do let us be reasonable. But if, in 
defiance of reason, it be our ignoble part, who are whim- 
sical and saturated with favouritism and Pharisaic ego- 
tism, to be representing the irrespective, unchangeable 
Father of all in such ungodlike manner, then, verily, in 
so doing, we but follow our degraded nature, ^ as might 
be expected of us. The Bible, however, is a book of in- 
spiration ; and the greatest proof thereof is, that it is de- 
livered from the foolish thoughts of men. It nowhere 
represents the great God in any such way. If it did, we 
might well suspect its inspiration ; just as these miser- 
able interpretations have really caused so many to do. 

§29. Works and Sufferings of Men Succeed 
Those of Christ. — With what supernatural harmony, 

' 7. e., the nature in which we are children of the devil. 



54 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



however, the Eternal Sanctifier of the fallen creatures 
of God is always set forth in the scriptures; and first, 
and in particular, as a Guide, or as One who never 
resorts to compulsion ; and also as a Comforter, that is, 
to those who are in fellowship with Him in His work; 
and yet to the world at large as a consuming fire!^ 
And what exceeding care is taken to show that the 
consuming, however, means neither the destruction of 
the sinner himself, nor of his will, but is directed against 
his imperfections. 2 Hence from Death or final De- 
struction Jesus is represented as the Saviour of all 
indiscriminately, but in other respects only of those that 
believe ; — ^that is, let us remember, of those who become 
righteous.^ If in the preliminary Salvation the Faith 
or Righteousness of Jesus is the all-suf!icient substitute 
for ours, our faith or righteousness becomes at once 
all-essential the moment that that salvation has been 
gained.^ And if by His Death He paid the penalty 
due from men, by that very deed, in thus bringing them 
into a prolonged existence. He made possible also the 
penalties to be inflicted upon the imperfect to secure 
their perfection ; and left it for us to "fill up that which 
is behind of the afflictions of Christ. "^ And so, in the 
place of the First Death, from which we were saved 
by the sufferings of the common Redeemer, there 
comes a Second Death, from which we must be saved 
by our own.^ Henceforth, therefore, to the Works 

1 John 14: 15-28. Heb. 12: 25-29. Ex. 23: 20, 21. Deut. 9: 7. 
Ps. 50, etc. 

2 I Cor. 3: 12-17. Jude 23. Amos 4: n, 12. Ezek. 3: 11, 27. 
Rev. 22: II, 12. John 5: 24, 30, 40. 2 Pet. 2: 12, 13 (r. v.); 
3:9, etc. 

3 I Tim. 4: 10. Rev. 21: 27; 22: 14, 15, etc. 

* John 3 : 18, 36. I John 3:7,8, 14, 16, 23, etc. s Col. i : 24. 

6 I Pet. 4: 1-5, 12-19. Rsv- 2: 11; 21: 7, 8, etc. 



Works and Sufferings of Men 55 

and Sufferings of Christ must succeed the Works and 
Sufferings of men; imtil all things shall be subdued, 
and God shall be all in all. ^ The wages of Sin was Death ; 
but it was possible to have the wages paid, and the 
sins of the past remitted, 2 in a manner satisfactory to 
God, and conformably to His holy, unchanging, irre- 
spective nature, without the least interference with the 
sovereignty of the creature, but rather to the necessary 
preservation thereof. But Sinfulness is essentially 
a thing of the present.^ It cannot be coercively done 
away with, and the free-will remain intact. And 
accordingly Sinfulness becomes the one Unpardonable 
Sin. The tares must be permitted to exist with the 
wheat; the ''old man" with the "new"; and "the 
good fight of faith" by man must follow the good fight 
of "the Faith of Christ." After the great Sacrifice of the 
Cross had coercively effected universal Redemption and 
Justification, the body of Sacrifice is forthwith removed 
to heaven; that in its place One who is not a Sacri- 
fice for Sin, and does no compulsory work, may come 
to godlike men.^ For now that Jesus has ascended, 

** there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins, but a certain 
fearful reception^ of Judgment, and a fierceness of fire 
which shall devour (or, which comes to devour) the ad- 
versaries. When one hath set at nought Moses' law, he 
dies without mercy. ... Of how much sorer punish- 
ment (than Death) , suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, 

i I Cor. 15: 26-28. Eph. i: 9, 10. Phil. 3: 21, etc. 

2 Rom. 3: 25. 2 Pet. i: 9. 

3 Reqmring for its wages the Second Death of judgment accord- 
ing to deeds in the present, and so long as it exists. 

4 John 16: 7-15. 

s The true idea of the Greek word — not "looking for," or "ex- 
pectation. " 



56 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath 
counted the blood of the covenant common, wherewith 
he was sanctified, and hath done despite unto (or, outraged) 
the spirit of the Grace?" ^ That is, hath outraged the pur- 
pose of the Salvation from Death given to him by an act 
of Grace, — even taking advantage of his renewed Life as 
one that was " delivered to do all these abominations." 2 

§ 30. The Day of Grace Followed by the Day 
OF Works. — Thus while men are confusedly talking 
about their priestly sacrifices for the taking away of 
sin, in the supernatural harmony of the Bible the day of 
such sacrifices has entirely passed away ; ^ and for the 
Sinfulness which visibly remains in us all no substituted 
sacrifice is taught as being of any avail. It is not 
that the Son of God, our Preserver, has ever left 
the earth. Rather, He tells us Himself, that He is 

1 Heb. 10: 26-29. The versions translate "the Spirit of grace"; 
omitting the article before "grace." Even in what are called 
"abstract nouns," however, the article, when used, defines or 
particularises. (Anthon's Greek Grammar, Rule XXXI.) A 
literal translation seems to me to convey best the idea of the sacred 
writer, who is evidently referring to the Grace shown us in the 
work of the Son of God, and is not speaking indefinitely of grace 
in general. He means ''that Grace," not grace in the abstract. 

2 Jer. 7 : 10. 

3 The Greek word for a priest who offers sacrifices is never ap- 
plied in the N, T. to a "minister" under the Christian dispensation; 
for Christ's sacrifice was of common and equal efficacy to all alike, 
and no one has any superior rights or prerogatives therein or in 
respect thereof over another. That such exactness should be the 
case throughout the N. T. is another one of those marvellous con- 
sistencies — so different from what men would have made the N, T. 
to say — showing that its inspiration becomes more and more ap- 
parent the more it is studied. It is all the people who are Christ's 
royal priesthood in the N. T.; while He only is the great High 
Priest who has once for all offered the atoning sacrifice for sins. 
See Heb. 7: 24-28; 9: 7-28; 10: 1-23. See also Rev. 1:6; 5: 10; 
20: 6. I Pet. 2: 5, 9. 



Unpardonable Sin 57 



with us alway unto the end of the ason.i But the 
Jesus of Sacrifice has ascended to Heaven ; and He has 
ascended there, because His work of Sacrifice on earth 
is finished. ''Though we have known Christ as fiesh, 
yet now we know Him so no more." 2 L^t us be duly 
grateful for the great work which His Sacrifice has 
accomplished, and fondly keep it in our memories; but 
let us duly realise that it is a work which can in no wise 
be repeated, nor needs to be repeated. ^ He that has 
once drunk of the Water of Life has no need to drink 
again. -* He lives for ever; and no repeated drinking 
can make him live any longer. And so the day of 
Grace has fully attained its purpose, and is now 
appropriately followed by the day of Works. And ac- 
cordingly the Divine Personality who has now come 
to us in the place of the great Sacrifice, the which 
Sacrifice was purposely removed to enable Him to 
come, instead of granting us pardon, as did the Sacri- 
fice, or paying for us our debts, keeps us unremittingly 
in the prison-house of Judgment, until we ourselves 
shall have paid the uttermost farthing. ^ Nay, more; 
for it is the Saviour Himself, the Preserver of our 
Life, who now becomes our Judge; and is very jealous 
that we shall not be allowed to defile with impimity 
His pure and holy work. 

§31. Unpardonable Sin in the Heart. — How 
wonderful it is, that from every point of view the 
Bible should without a variation repeat to us this 
solemn lesson; for it is a lesson which is so utterly 
tmcongenial to the hopes and wishes and ordinary 

» Matt. 28: 20. Or, "unto the end of the (this) life." 
2 2 Cor. 5: 16. ^ Heb. lo: 12-23, ®tc. 

* John 4: 13, 14; 6: 35, 58. ' Matt. 5: 26; 18: 34, 35- 



58 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



views of men, that even Christians go searching for 
the unpardonable sin anywhere but in their own hearts. 
And yet, at the very time that we were warned of it 
by the Master, He expressly compared it to a corrupt 
tree which kept producing corrupt fruit, and had to 
become a good tree, before it would produce the good 
fruit. And He further explained, that it was the 
evil heart which could only bring forth evil things, and 
must needs be reformed, before it would bring forth 
the good. And then He adds, showing how extreme 
was the unpardonableness of the evil heart, that if it 
brought forth but an idle word, an account thereof 
would have to be rendered "in a day of judgment."^ 
Consistently with all this, the Bible, in its opening 
allegory, declares how Adam, although, on sinning, 
doomed to immediate death, had been preserved in Life ; 
while in the place of the Death, there had come the 
judgment of toilsome labour by the sweat of the brow, 
and the accompanying thorns and thistles ; the flaming 
sword of the unpardoning Spirit turning every way to 
keep the way of that Tree of Life which is in Pasadise 

1 Matt. 12: 33-36. In the original the phrase ''the day of judg- 
ment" occurs but once in the entire N. T., to wit, in i John 4: 17, 
wherein in express terms it refers to judgment "in this world." 
The idea of this latter passage, as compared with other scripture, 
would seem to be, that while "the fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom, " and an imperfect man is therefore wise in cherishing 
a wholesome fear of the judgments of the God of irrespective 
justice upon all imperfection or Sinfulness, yet as the man grows 
in love, and in the assurance of the love of God in Christ, he will 
grow more and more bold in his day of judgment, until, very rightly, 
perfect love, as no other should, will cast out all fear. Alas for the 
wisdom of those who, before their love is perfected, have the au- 
dacity to be fearless of the judgments of God; for according to our 
condition, so are we in respect of judgment "in this world." In 
all other places, save i John 4:17, the phrase in the original is "in 
a day of judgment. " 



Man Alone Responsible 59 

above, ^ into which may in nowise enter anything 
vin clean, or that worketh abomination and falsehood. 2 
So in Exodus, after the deliverance of the people 
from Death through the typical blood of the passover,^ 
the people were caused at once to begin their long 
journey of personal toil to the promised land; and 
unto them the holy commandments of God were given, 
and it was said: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, 
to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place 
which I have prepared. Take ye heed of Him, and 
hearken imto His voice ; provoke Him not : for He will 
not pardon your transgressions; for My Name is in 
Him." 4 

§ 32. Man Alone Responsible for his Sancti- 
FiCATiON. — ^Thus then in the Sanctification of men 
the solemn, final responsibility rests always with the 
individual; and the choice is ever his own to say, 
whether the kingdom of heaven shall be at hand in its 
wrath or in its glory ; — that is to say, whether he shall 
see his great Judge (in the only way in which, while 
imperfect, he shall ever see Him) constantly coming in 
the clouds of heaven, and, so seeing, shall mourn ;^ or 
whether, becoming righteous, he shall be no longer 
banished from the glory of the Lord's visible presence 
into outer darkness and aeonic destruction. ^ At all 



» 7.^., heaven; or not the paradise into which our Lord and the 
soul of the penitent thief went on the day of the crucifixion. 

2 Rev. 21: 27. 

8 Which had been put in the form of a cross upon the lintel and 
side-posts of their doors. 

* Ex. 23: 20, 21. 

s Matt. 24: 30. Rev. i: 7. Heb. 12: 14. i John 3: 2. 

• 2 Th. 1 : 4-10. 



6o The Foundation and the Superstructure 



events, whether he recognise it or not, the Bible in a 
double sense is proclaiming the kingdom of heaven to 
be at hand ; and therewith also the facts of Nature agree ; 
and the one, like the other, is sounding forth an incessant 
call to repentance. In brief, in spite of sins innumer- 
able, men continue to have their existence prolonged, 
and their wills preserved, and are held severely re- 
sponsible according to their deeds. For, on the one 
hand, in respect of Death, the teaching of the Master 
is, that "all manner of sin " is His heavy burden. And 
yet, on the other, He tells us plainly, that nothing 
done against the Holy Ghost can be forgiven. ^ And 
if this be so, is not Sinfulness always opposing itself 
to the Holy Ghost? And do we not see what insu- 
perable reasons there are why God should never par- 
don Sinfulness? Let me put prominently before the 
reader two of those which I have given, which are 
founded upon the emphatic statements of the Bible, 
and are corroborated by the facts of the natural world ; 
thus: First, irrespective justice may not disregard 
the differing degrees of merit among individuals, nor 
elevate the evil to a perfect equality with the good. 
For, according to strict justice, men should always 
be rewarded according to their deeds; and the holy 
blood of Jesus ought neither here nor hereafter — 
"neither in this life nor in that which is to come" — 
to be made to minister to any sort of injustice, or 
to the procrastination of that which is good, and the 

1 Matt. 12: 31, 32. A literal translation would be: "Wherefore 
I say unto you, All sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : 
but the Spirit's blasphemy (i.e., sinfulness) shall not be forgiven 
unto men: and whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of 
man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against 
the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this life 
(aeon), nor in that to come. " See § 124 (6), for notes, and context. 



Man Alone Responsible 6i 



prolonged gratification with audacious impunity of a 
sinful heart. And next, *'the gifts and calling of God 
are without change of mind.** That is to say, after 
making man a god, giving him a free-will sovereignty 
all his own, the Creator will not revoke that godlike 
sovereignty, nor swerve at all from the exalted purpose 
of the gift. He will neither destroy the man nor his will. 
Nor will He take back the high calling which He has 
given him in Christ Jesus. He will not degrade him into 
a machine, nor accept from him aught but free-will 
service. For should God become His own worshipper? 
Nay, do we not regard self-worship as most degrading 
even to man? For these reasons, then, and because 
He so declares. He will never pardon Sinfulness; and 
the visible proof of the fact is daily before our eyes. 
How, indeed, would the holy Sacrifice of Jesus have been 
defiled, if it had really been abused to the service 
of sin, whether in the case of the most godlike or 
the most devil-like among us, by the compulsory tak- 
ing away of Sinfulness! Enough that thereby we all 
have been saved from the wiping out of existence 
which was our common due, without the compromise 
of either the justice or the irrespective nature of God, 
or the exercise of compulsion upon the will of man, and 
to the conservation of all that is glorious in both. 
Accordingly, it is well, that, notwithstanding our re- 
stored Life, it should be written, as one of the last, 
most emphatic utterances from Heaven in declaration 
of the unchangeable decree of God: "The time is 
at hand. He that is unjust, let him be imjust 
still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy 
still: and he that is righteous, let him be right- 
eous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is 



62 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



with me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be." 1 

§33. Biblical Testimony to the Inviolability 
OF Free-Will. — ^This exceptional emphasis at the end 
of the Bible, as to the inviolability of the free-will of 
man, reminds us of the similar strong emphasis of Moses 
at the beginning. Take, for example, out of a lengthy 
passage, this, in substance twice repeated : * ' I call heaven 
and earth to record this day against you, that I have 
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: 
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed 
may live." 2 And yet these are but a few examples 
out of the many, all through the Bible, which tell us 
of the unpardonable sin, or that, if we continue un- 
sanctified, the omnipotent God will never coerce the 
im willing soul. We hear accordingly the solemn cry 
of Jesus, at the very time that He announces the 
recovery of men from Death, "I can of mine own 
self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment 
is just. " ^ And yet the annotmcement, notwithstanding 
its terrors, like all the announcements of Jesus, is a 
gospel unto men. For, just as their continual chastise- 
ment shows forth the unceasing love and care of God, 
and His persistent purpose to advance them, and 

i Rev. 22 : II, 12. 

2 Deut. 30: 19. See the whole passage (11-30). 

3 John 5 : 30. Jesus adds to this declaration that He will be just 
although justifying, "because I seek not mine own will, but the will 
of Him that hath sent me. " This would seem to indicate how 
continually His human nature had felt the force of the temptation 
to deliver men from future Sins and Sufferings; and how persistently 
He resisted the temptation. What force this lends to the words 
of Satan when he showed Jesus all the world, and said, "All these 
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. " 
(Matt. 4: 8, 9.) 



Inviolability of Free-Will 63 



that He will on no account destroy, so to be assured 
that neither in this life nor in that to come will He 
pardon our Sinfulness, is a message of good tidings 
which declares to us, that His efforts in the future life 
for our recovery and high exaltation will be continued 
as in this; and that though we may go on descending 
to unimaginable depths in the bitterness of the struggle, 
and our retrieval may be terrible, and terribly pro- 
longed, yet at no time will the mercy of God give up the 
struggle, or His unpardoning judgments end in final, 
everlasting destruction. His justice, indeed, will be 
seonic, or extend from life to life, and be correlated 
with our Sinfulness ; but His mercy will endure forever. 
The uncompromising struggle is a hopeful assurance 
that Jesus will finally, in fulfilment of His promise, 
draw all men unto Him, ^ and that in respect of every- 
thing which the Father hath given Him, He would lose 
nothing thereof; 2 — nothing, therefore, of its godlike 
sovereignty, but would raise it up in the last day. ^ 
As surely as He was crucified, and all men did suffer the 
penalty of death in Him, so surely should they die 
no more; because the penalty of the law was thereby 
fully executed, and death could have no more dominion 
over them.* And as surely as He was raised again, 
and all men were raised in Him,^ — "justified imto 

1 John 12: 32. 2 So in the Greek. 

3 John 6: 39, 40, 44, 54. The expression "in the last day" 
would seem to be equivalent to "at the last"; that is, "in the last 
day" of the particular individual's long day of judgment, or at 
the end of the protracted struggle. See Acts 2: 17. Heb. 1:2. 
I Pet. i: 5, 20. I John 2: 18. 2 Pet. 3: 3. Jude 18. 2 Tim. 
3:1. Jas. 5:3. Gen. 49:1, 19. Is. 2:2. Jer. 23:20. Mic. 4:1- 
John 11: 24-26; 12: 48. I Cor. 15: 26, 52, etc. 

* Gal. 2: 19, 20. Rom. 7: 1-6; 6: 6-11. 

5 Col. 3 : I ; 2:12, 13 (refers to the baptism of blood). Eph. 2 : 5, 
6, 13- 



64 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Life," — so surely was it the promise of a higher resur- 
rection, the purpose to effect which the good God 
will never surrender. ^ 

§ 34. Paul's Argument Continued — ^Justifica- 
tion BY Faith. — ^And this brings us to the glorious 
continuation of St. Paul's argument in the Epistle to 
the Romans. In beginning, starting with the uni- 
versality of sin, he had shown with that as his basis, that 
no man was entitled to favouritism from the impartial 
God; for example, the Jew no more than the Greek, or 
other Gentile; and therefore, that the irrespective 
God would not redeem or justify one sinner, and not 
another. He had proclaimed accordingly that all 
alike were redeemed from Death and justified unto 
Life. But now that the apostle has this higher basis 
of a common, universal redemption and justification 
to plant his foot upon, instead of the lower one of 
simply a universality in sin, he mounts still higher in 
his argument. Surely, he reasons, God did not redeem 
and justify all men, and at such a cost, to appoint any 
of them unto wrath. 2 Surely, His purpose was, that 
all should be saved, and should come unto the know- 
ledge of the Truth ;^ or, as our Saviour puts it, should 
be guided into all truth ; ^ that is, be brought to per- 
fection ; and that the purpose would be carried out in 
due time.^ For if, the apostle argues, God would not 
at first redeem and justify one sinner and not another, 
how can He cease to be impartial, now that all are 

» Rom. 4: 25; 6: 5, 8, 22, 23. i Th. 5: 9-1 1. i Tim. 2: 3-8. 
Tit. 1:2; 2: 11-14; 3: 5-7. Alas, as to the higher resurrection, 
Hymenseus and Philetus have their successors, and many of them, 
to this very day! (2 Tim. 2: 11-21.) 

2 I Th. 5: 9-11. Rom. 8: 29, 30. 

3 I Tim. 2: 4-6. * John 16: 13. « i Tim. 2: 6. 



Universal Redemption 65 



redeemed and justified? If His love would not suffer 
Him to give up sinners under sentence of Death, and 
His purpose was to save while they were thus tainting 
His universe, shall that love or purpose cease, now 
that they have been cleansed in the blood of His 
own dear Son, and are living in His Life? And if, 
moreover, they have been thus raised up from their 
ruined condition through the Death of their Redeemer 
and Justifier, surely, the apostle further argues, what 
greater hopes of raising should be theirs, now that He 
is alive again, and at the right hand of God. ^ On the 
tiniversal basis from which the apostle reasons, it 
would be clearly illogical to make his conclusions in 
any respect partial. In fact, he himself is particularly 
careful in them to make no distinction between un- 
believers and those whom men call believers, but who, 
like the others, are in a state of Sinfulness. In another 
epistle he even declares, and with entire consistency 
too, that in his own case he had obtained mercy because 
he had acted ignorantly, or with sincerity, in unbelief.^ 
And to St. Peter he had said in substance, that because 
their personal faith had been of no avail, and they 
could not be justified by works, "but by the Faith 
of Jesus Christ," therefore they had believed in Jesus 
Christ, that they ''might be justified by the Faith of 
Christ, and not by works of law: for (that) by works 
of law (of which works of course their personal faith 
was one) shall no flesh be justified." ^ 

§35. Paul's Argument on Basis of Universal 
Redemption and Justification. — But let me give, 
in part, the apostle's argument from the higher basis 

» Or, armed with the right hand of Almighty Power. 

2 I Tim. i: 13. ^ Gal. 2: 16, 

5 



66 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



of universal redemption and justification in his own 
words. In order to enforce upon us the gratuitous 
character of these great gifts of God, and how they had 
been procured for us in our helpless condition, the 
sacred writer says: "For when we were yet without 
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
For . . . God commendeth His love towards us, 
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for 
us." And upon this higher elevation of justification, 
so far above the condition of unjustified sinners, it is 
that his revelation goes on to proclaim the still higher 
purpose of God in behalf of all thus justified. He 
continues : 

" Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we 
shall be saved from the (above-mentioned) ^ wrath (at 
first producing Death, and now tribulations) through Him. 
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled 
(or no longer enemies) , we shall be saved by His life : (which 
certainly should make Him more powerful than did His 
death) : and not only so, but also (we shall be) rejoicing 
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom 
now {i.e. already) we have received the reconciliation 
(just mentioned, 2 or the first step in our upward progress). 
. . . For if by the offence of the one Death reigned 
by the one ; much more they that {i. e. all men without 
exception who) receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift 
of Righteousness (thus imputed unto all for justification 
of life) shall reign in Life by the One, Jesus Christ. There- 
fore as by the offence of one (judgment came) upon all 
men to condemnation (of Death) ; even so by the Righteous- 
ness of One (the free gift came) unto all men to Justification 
of Life, (a) For as by the one man's disobedience the many 

TThe force of the article. 

^ I.e., "the said reconciliation, " the article again referring back. 



Things Accomplished by Christ 67 

(i. e. all) were made sinners, even so by the obedience of 
the One shall the many {i. e. the same all) be made righteous 
{i. e. justified) . ^ Moreover the law entered that the offence 
might abound. But where sin abounded, Grace did much 
more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto Death, even 
so might Grace reign through Righteousness {i. e. of God) 2 
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ^ 

§ 36. Paul's Argument on Basis of Things Ac- 
complished BY Christ. — For brevity's sake I pass 
over the repetitions in the sixth and seventh chapters,* 
and the apostle's care therein to show that the pur- 
pose of God in redemption and justification can 
only have its fruition through our own efforts to 

1 The reader should bear in mind always, that "justified," and 
"made just," or "made righteous," are identical expressions. 

2 And, possibly, the apostle may mean also, through the to-be- 
acquired personal righteousness of man. I say, possibly; because 
the apostle is now talking of the Foundation as laid by Christ, and 
has no need as yet, logically speaking, to be taking also into con- 
sideration the Superstructure of man's building, however requisite 
that may be. Still he is ever anxious that men may not forget the 
importance of their own works for their proper purpose; and his 
language therefore may be intended to be a reminder of man's 
righteousness, even while speaking of God's. 

3 Rom. 5 ch. "Reconciled" by Christ's Death is the First 
Salvation; to be "saved by His Life" is the Second; and "rejoicing," 
etc., is the Third. 

* It is interesting, but confusing to some readers, to note how 
in chapter vi., St. Paul as usual with him, represents us as dead 
in Christ, and as having risen in Him to a new life over which the 
law has no power; but rather, having once executed its sentence, 
cannot kill us again: whereas, in the first part of chapter vii. 
it is the law itself which dies, and which had been married to us 
as our first husband. And by the death of the law we were freed 
from our marital bond, and so married Another, even Christ. 
It will be seen that, however diversified the illustrating figure, 
its purpose is the same; or to show that we are no longer un- 
der the law of Sin and Death, but under the law of the Spirit of 
Life, or of Grace, in Christ Jesus. 



68 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



walk in newness of life. In the eighth chapter he 
renews the argument as based upon the things ac- 
complished by Christ. ^ At the beginning he reminds 
us, however, again, as follows: "There is therefore 
now no condemnation (of Sin working final Death) 
to them which are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law 
of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of Sin and Death." The reader who 
is accustomed to a different line of thought must be 
•cautioned against taking such expressions as these, 
of which St. Paul is so fond, in a partial sense. We 
must keep in mind that the apostle has been reasoning 
from a imiversal basis, and has in consequence reached 

» And yet seeming again, all the time, to be keeping in view 
the necessity of man's works also; — in fact, so writing that his 
language seems to be a continual reminder thereof; so that men, 
in general, lose the thread of his argument; while, on the other 
hand, they do not realise, as the sacred writer wished, the necessity 
of works. This obscurity, it will be well for us to remember, is 
not accidental on the part of the revealing Spirit, however much 
it may be the fault of the writer. Its purpose, often spoken of 
in the Bible, is to develop humility, care, vigilance, industry, the 
■sense of personal responsibility, reliance upon God, and never upon 
man, etc., in the individual reader, and generally to form his heav- 
enly character, whether his interpretations be right or wrong; 
— the which, although important, are of inferior consequence. 
And the same obscurity carries with it a corresponding judgment 
upon those of opposite traits and habits, who do not recognise it 
as their unavoidable duty to give to God's own revelations their 
best personal attention, and who prefer to listen only to the inter- 
pretations of their human leaders; and who thereupon almost 
invariably plume themselves, whether truly or falsely, upon their 
superior knowledge! And this, although they dare to turn the 
back upon what the Spirit Himself is saying to them! 

2 Some high, ancient manuscript authorities add (in part or in 
whole, "who exist (literally, walk about) not as flesh, but as spirit." 
That is, who are no longer mortal before the law, but have through 
Christ the spirit of immortal life. The words, whether admissible 
liere or not, occur in verse 4. 



The Flesh and the Spirit 69 

a universal conclusion, the universality of which he 
has himself asserted over and over again. His logical 
idea may be stated more plainly thus: "There is there- 
fore now, because of Sin, no judgment by the law of 
final Death to men, who are all now saved therefrom 
in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life 
in Him, superseding the old law, hath made all men 
free, and me among them, from the law of Sin and 
Death." It is in like manner that we must interpret 
what follows; and the universality of the apostle's in- 
tention will occasionally be shown by himself. Cer- 
tainly, when he says above **hath made me free," 
he does not mean at all himself only; and since, from 
any point of view, we must make the **me" to include 
others, it is clearly more logical and natural to make 
it include all for whom Christ died, to which ''all" 
the sacred writer had expressly asserted the free gift 
of Justification imto Life to have come. 

§37. The Flesh and the Spirit. — Carrying out 
his idea, then, he thus proceeds: 

" For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the (weakness of man in the) flesh, God, sending 
His own Son in likeness of sin's flesh, ^ and on account of 
sin, condemned the sin in the flesh: 2 that the righteousness 

» I give it literally to get the full effect of the reference thereto 
following — "the (said) sin in the (said) flesh." 

2 The reference of the articles may either be, without alteration 
of the sense, to flesh in general of men, or to that Flesh which the 
Son of God assumed, and which was "in likeness of sin's flesh." 
For the apostle is evidently regarding men as freed from the exe- 
cution of the mortal penalty of sin, because of its full execution upon 
the Son of God in flesh as a Substitute for all. In 6 : 6-1 1 we read : 
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the 
body of Sin (sin's flesh) might be destroyed; that henceforth we 
should not serve Sin (that is, he subject to its wages of Death). For 



70 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

of the law (i.e. all the holy requirements thereof) might 
be fulfilled in us who exist ^ not as flesh (sin's flesh) , but as 
spirit (or through the law of the Spirit of Life) . For they 
that are as flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they 
that are as spirit the things of the Spirit. For the mind of 
the flesh is Death; but the mind of the Spirit is Life and 
Peace.'* 2 

And here let me renew my caution to the reader. St. 
Paul is not talking about some men being carnally 
minded, and others spiritually minded, and of the 

he that is dead (crucified in Christ) is freed from Sin. (For being 
dead already, how can sin kill him?) Now if we be dead with 
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him; knowing that 
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; Death hath no 
more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto 
Sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise 
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto Sin (killed by it 
when crucified with Christ), but alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord" (i. e., immortal). So Gal. 2: 19, 20: "For I 
through law (inflicting its mortal sentence upon me in the Person 
of my Substitute) have died in law, that I might live in God. I 
have been crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live : yet no more I 
(that is, in my old "sin's flesh," to become again subject unto 
Death) , but Christ liveth in me : and the (life) which / now live in 
flesh I live by Faith, that of the Son of God, who loved me, and 
gave himself for me. " 

1 A secondary meaning of the verb, the primary meaning being 
"to walk about." We now exist, and for ever, because Christ, as 
a Substitute for all, has lived the life required by the law over all, 
and died the death due from us all as sinners ; and so the righteousness 
of the law in every respect is fulfilled for all through Christ ; but it 
is so fulfilled for us, that, in the place of being wiped out of exist- 
ence, the righteousness may in a new life be fulfilled in and hy us 
in an actual personal perfection, according to the purpose of God — 
"fulfilled in us who (now) walk about not as flesh (that flesh having 
died in law in its execution upon Christ), but as spirit. " 

2 St. Paul's "mind of the flesh" and his "old man," etc., are the 
same; and this flesh or old man, though dead in law, lives in fact, 
to fight to its own death with the immortal "spirit of Life " or "new 
man, " 



The Flesh and the Spirit 7i 

differing results to the respective classes; as our good 
old version has so long in respect of this passage mistak- 
ingly taught us ; ^ thus making it all the more difficult 
to grasp the apostle's true meaning. The sacred writer 
is true to his subject; and his words follow in logical 
sequence upon what he had been saying immediately 
before. He had told us of the superseding of **the 
law of Sin and Death " by "the law of the Spirit of Life in 
Christ Jesus"; and how in consequence "sin's flesh" 
had fully received its proper sentence of Death ; or that 
we are no more existing as "sin's flesh," to receive 
that sentence, but are now, as spirit, to live, through 
the Spirit of Life within us all. And so, he simply 
here repeats that the former condition of "sin's 
flesh," or, as he now more briefly says, of "flesh,'* 
had been one of Death, while our present condition 
of "spirit," that is, of being under "the law of the 
Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus," is one of Life and Peace ; 
— peace, because of God's reconciliation with His 
redeemed. In other words, St. Paul deems that he 
has been using amplified expressions quite enough to 
be able now to resort to those which are more brief. 
And although, in respect of the second Death, the 
words "to be carnally minded is Death" are strictly 
true; — ^while "to be spiritually minded" removes us, 
according to the deed, from the withering blight of 
that Second Death, and so gives the spirit Life and 
Peace, or in the secondary, superstructural sense; 
yet any abrupt introduction of the subject of Judgment 
according to deeds would be entirely out of line with 
the apostle's present line of thought. For he is still 
speaking of the Redemption of all men without 
exception from Primary Final Death, and of their 

1 The r. v. corrects the mistranslation of the a. v. of Rom. 8 : 6. 



72 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Justification unto Life, and how these great facts are 
demonstrating the high purpose of God as to all. 

§ 38. God's Indwelling Spirit in the Flesh. — Let 
us then keep fast hold of the apostle's line of thought. 
Continuing therein, he gives anew the reason why the 
condition of ''sin's flesh," or of "the old man" as de- 
rived from Adam, now happily at an end in its mortal 
threatenings to men, should have been one of Death. 
He says : ' ' Because the mind of the flesh (of that flesh) 
is enmity against God: for," the apostle adds, 

"it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
it be (its wages being Death) : and they that are in the 
flesh (that is, the said sin's flesh, supposing, contrary to 
what has been said, that there could be any still in that 
flesh) cannot please God. But ye (like the rest of redeemed 
and justified men) are not in flesh, but in spirit, if so be 
(as has been declared of all) that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
in you." 

Of course, in a natural sense, all upon earth are in 
flesh, and, as St. Paul has strongly shown, are tainted 
with the sins thereof; not one being without sin. And 
this clearly manifests that he is using the term "flesh" 
in a different sense entirely, or in a sense in which we 
are no longer in flesh; just as he had stated. The 
flesh, of which he is now speaking, is never described 
by him as in any case a condition of the present. 
And therefore it is that he says, for example, in 7:5, 
"For when we were in the flesh"; and in 8: 3 calls it 
"sin's flesh," upon which the final. Death-producing 
judgment of God had gone forth; thus making it a con- 
dition wholly of the past.^ Clearly then the inspired 

1 That is, in law, and in respect of St. Paul's corresponding use 
of such expressions. 



Immortality 73 



writer is not referring at all to our present Sinful- 
ness, or to the carnal mind which is now troubling 
us, and bringing down upon us our heavy judgments 
according to our respective deeds ; but, true to his line 
of thought, to that condition of Mortality from which 
all sinners alike have been recovered. His meaning is, 
If the Spirit of God, conferring Immortal Life, now 
dwelleth in men, ye, men, are no more in flesh, subject 
to the law of Sin, producing as its wages permanent 
Death. 

§ 39. Christ's Spirit Quickeneth unto Immor- 
tality. — He proceeds: ''And if any man hath not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His"; that is, must be 
still unredeemed, and imjustified, or unregenerated into 
Life. In other words, we cannot begin with universal- 
ity and end with denying to some what we allow to oth- 
ers. If all were sinners, all were redeemed ; if all were 
redeemed, then, in the same irrespective way, all were 
justified, or re-begotten into Life; and if this last be 
true, then all must have in them the Spirit of Life, 
or the Spirit of Christ. And if this be not true, then 
were they not redeemed, and are not His. The apostle 
is pushing the tmiversality of his declarations with 
characteristic vigour. He continues: 

" And if Christ is in you, the body (that is, * the flesh ' above 
mentioned) is dead because of sin (crucifying the creatures 
with Christ) ; but the spirit is Life because of Righteousness 
(that is, that of the risen Re-Creator). And if the Spirit 
of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in 
you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken 
also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth 
in you." 

In saying this, the apostle is not speaking of the 



74 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



resurrection of the dead in the present ordinary use 
of the phrase ; nor, of course, of that ' ' body " or " flesh " 
(''sin's flesh") which has received for ever its penalty 
of Death when it was crucified with Christ. On the 
contrary, the raind of the sacred writer is still upon 
the purchased immortality of all men, and of the 
consequent revivification of the present mortal body 
under a new condition altogether different from the 
old. That is to say, all men had died with Christ 
under the reign of "the law of Sin and Death,'* but 
they had risen again with Him under the reign of a 
new law, that "of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus"; 
and their present mortal bodies were therefore quick- 
ened or made alive by that Spirit under this new al- 
tered condition. The apostle had already told us all 
this at considerable length (6: 6-11, § 37, foot-note) , and 
he speaks accordingly now with the greater brevity. 
And let us remember how he says it also, very concisely, 
in Gal. 2: 19, 20: 

" For I through law (the law of Sin and Death) have died 
in law, that I might live in God. I have been crucified 
with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet no more I (that is, not 
of myself, or of my own Works, for I then should die again ; 
because I should again be in sin's flesh, or under 'the 
law of Sin and Death'), but Christ liveth in me: and that 
(Life) which / now live in flesh I live by Faith, that of the 
Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." 

§ 40. Faith and Flesh in Romans. — With the 
same idea still in view, the apostle in Romans, with 
the impressiveness of a personal appeal, and as con- 
sequential upon what he had been saying, adds: 

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, 
to live as flesh. (We do not owe our life, which we are now 



Faith and Flesh in Romans 75 



living, to our own deeds of flesh, which flesh rather had to 
die for its sins. Not at all.) For if ye live as flesh (if your 
present life be depending upon the deeds of the flesh), 
ye would die : but if in spirit ye put to death the doings of 
the body, ye shall live."^ 

St. Paul, of course, does not wish us to put to death 
the good deeds which we do in flesh. And yet it 
would seem to be these very deeds of which he par- 
ticularly speaks. The good deeds cannot gain life; 
for Death followed immediately upon Sin; and the 
good and the evil deeds alike thereupon came in law 
to their end. The reasoning of the apostle requires 
all the deeds of the body, therefore, to be put to death, 
in order that only in the new Life begotten in us we 
may live. Because, in particular, of a misunder- 
standing of his teaching which is still prevalent, and 
which he would correct, we have seen how again and 
again he points out the inconsistency, when a man 
is so dead in law that he can have no works, of making 
him by ''the work of faith" 2 to bring himself to life! 
The harmony of inspiration is too supematurally true 
and exact to tolerate such nonsensical contradiction 
of doctrine; and St. Paul, just the same as St. James, 
would put the question, If a man '' have not works, 
can faith save him?"^ Take, for example, his own 
question, *'For what if some did not believe? shall 
their imbelief make the Faith of God without effect? " * 
Or the apostle's point blank declaration that there is 
no difference between believers and others, because 
all have sinned, and come short of the glory (of the 
Righteousness) of God, and are justified freely, as a 
matter of pure Grace, through the redemption that 

» Rom. 8: 12, 13. 2 i Th. 1:3. 2 Th. i: 11. 

3 Jas. 2 : 14. * Rom. 3 : 3. 



76 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



is in Christ Jesus. ^ Or the further statement, all 
in this one epistle, that **God hath concluded all as 
regards unbelief, that He might have mercy upon 
all." 2 And, to give one more example, personal to 
himself, and so entirely consistent with the others, 
how he says, that he himself had obtained special mercy, 
because his wrong-doing had been occasioned by ig- 
norance when in unbelief.^ If any one sees any dif- 
ference between the teaching of St. Paul and St. 
James, it is because he has not properly understood 
St. Paul and his harmonious utterances against Salva- 
tion from Death other than by the perfect Faith of 
Christ, and the utter helplessness of human works, 
including faith, to effect that Salvation. And in so 
proclaiming, he is every whit as strong as St. James. 
And, just as much as would St. Peter also, he would 
not have us, in respect of the acquisition of our new 
Life, think for one moment that we were other than 
as new-bom babes. ^ 

§ 41. The Work of Faith in Philippians. — In 
the Epistle to the Philippians (3 : 7-9) , in order to 
make the more apparent what had been necessarily 
done for us by the Faith or Works of Christ, he first 
claims special excellency for his own faith and works 
from his very birth according to his light, and then 
adds: 

" But what things were profit (or, gain) to me, these I 
counted loss for Christ: . . . for whom I have suffered 
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I 
may profit (or, get gain)^ by Christ, and be found in 

1 Rom. 3 : 22-24. ^ Rom. 11: 32. 

3 I Tim. 1 : 13. * i Pet. 1:3,4, 18-21, 23; 2:2. 

5 As translated in Jas. 4: 13. For Christ is a free Gift to men. 



Faith in Philippians 77 



Him,i not having mine own righteousness, which is from 
(works of) law, but that which is through the Faith of 
Christ, the Righteousness of God by the said Faith." 2 

And so in the Epistle to the Colossians, it is *'the Faith 
of the operation (working) of God," ^ that hath quick- 
ened us into Life. And again, in the Epistle to the 
Ephesians it is declared, that "we have boldness and 
access with confidence through the Faith of Him."* 
And, to give one more example, in the same epistle we 
read: 

** For by the said Grace have ye been saved through the 

We utterly spoil St. Paul's idea when we translate "win Christ"; 
as though at the very time when the apostle would show the use- 
lessness of works, he would represent us as winning Christ hy our 
works! In translating profit and profit hy, or gain and get gain hy, 
it is after the manner of St. Paul, who also uses in the Greek a verb 
corresponding to the noun. See § 22(a). 

1 Note the repetitions. He neither wins nor finds Christ, 
but profits hy and is found in Him. The disgraceful insignificance 
put upon St. Paul's own faith and works to justify unto Life is 
not enough for him, and so by further repetitions he goes on to 
emphasise how free is the Gift of Christ to all. "For God so loved 
the world that He hath given,'' etc. (Our Lord's words in John 3 : 
16.) 

2 Lit. ''the Faith," i.e., ''that Faith," or "the said Faith," the 
article (omitted in our versions, as though its use by the apostle 
went for nothing) referring to "the Faith of Christ" mentioned 
just before. What a call it is to the exercise of individual re- 
sponsibility, care, and diligence, in searching the scriptures, when 
thus the brightest and most learned scholars of the world, as well 
as the rulers of all the differing churches, have shown an utter 
failure to grasp the very first and fundamental feature of the gospel, 
— that we are justified by the Faith of Christ, as an act of free 
Grace to all men alike! Evidently, even in the beginning of the 
twentieth century, "the wise and prudent " are no more an authori- 
tative guide for the "babes" than they were in the first. 

3 Col. 2:12. The r. v. without a shadow of justification miser- 
ably perverts St. Paul's Greek. 

^ Eph. 3 : 12. 



7^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



(His) Faith ;i and that (Salvation by Grace through the 
[His] Faith) not of yourselves {i. e., neither the Salvation, 
nor the Grace, nor the Faith, is any work of ours) : 2 it is 
the Gift of God : not of Works, lest any man should boast. 
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for 
good works, which God hath before prepared that we 
should walk in them." ^ 

Thus, like the other scriptures, St. Paul's writings also, 
so far from limiting Justification unto Life to a few 
believers, or to the baptised, in as express terms as it 
seems possible to use, denies such limitation; and 
claims instead, that, by the Righteousness of Christ 
only, "the free gift came unto all men to Justification 
of Life."^ And accordingly, like the other sacred 
writers, he too styles the acquisition of new Life by all 
alike as their "Regeneration"; making God through 
Christ to be the only Regenerator or Begetter of the 
new Life. Because, doubtless, of the ecclesiastical 
surroundings and prepossessions beclouding the judg- 
ment, men in general do not seem to realise, that the 
designation "Regeneration," thus given by inspira- 
tion, puts the manner of obtaining the new Life on the 
same footing with the manner of obtaining natural 

1 Lit. ''the Faith," the article emphasising and thus briefly 
referring to the Work of Christ as previously mentioned. Ap- 
parently, however, because the apostle had not before expressly 
used the phrase "the Faith of Christ," he takes care immediately 
to explain, that he is not referring to our faith, or to any salvation 
wrought thereby. Note this well. 

2 "And that not of yourselves." That in the Greek is neuter, 
while Grace and Faith are feminine. Hence, that refers to the 
whole idea going before, — in fact, to all three words, or not merely 
to Faith, but to Salvation by Grace through Faith. See Phil, i : 28. 

3 Eph. 2: 8-10. 

* Rom. 5:18. — "Being justified freely." 3: 24. 



Universal Immortality 79 

life, or of ''generation." That is to say, like as in the 
case of generation, so, by regeneration, the child is 
simply begotten and born, wholly without its consent, 
and without its doing anything whatever by will or 
deed. It had no works, faith, or will, of its own, in the 
matter. And being the finished act of the irrespective 
God, it was as freely done as was generation in the case 
of all alike; and no act of any creature, whether for 
himself (by his faith) or for another (by baptism) , was 
required to give it efficiency. It is only possible after 
birth for the child to believe and be baptised. And if 
man is to be made the child of God, it is God alone that 
should be his Regenerator. If it be done by a man's 
own faith, then man becomes his own spiritual parent, 
and is his own child — not God's. And so, out of dead 
nothingness he would come into being by a spontaneous, 
self -originating regeneration, in spite of the fact that 
''from nothing nothing comes." And as for baptism, 
the Bible certainly teaches, as well as common sense, 
that the adult person baptised has not only existence 
already, but a previous spiritual existence, in order 
previously to believe and consent to be baptised. For 
that matter, the motions of the Spirit of God are daily 
making themselves apparent both in unbaptised per- 
sons and in unbelievers; and St. Paul accordingly, most 
consistently with his ideas of Justification by Faith, 
recognised in express terms the Athenian idolaters to 
be children of God. 

§42. Christ AND Universal Immortality. — This 
is his great idea all through that part of the chapter 
in Romans which we are now considering; and how 
consequential it is upon what he had said before 
is shown by the manner in which he begins the 



8o The Foundation and the Superstructure 

chapter. — "There is therefore now no condemnation'* 
etc. Of the condemnation upon evil works according 
to deeds he is not now speaking. For in proclaiming 
the Foundation of gratuitous Life to man, it would 
clearly be foreign to his line of thought, and greatly 
tend to interrupt the same, and too, just as he is ap- 
proaching the climax of his deductions, to be inculcat- 
ing continually in the midst the vital necessity of good 
works. This, as a matter of subsequent and consequen- 
tial consideration, he takes care to do in the twelfth 
chapter, and to the end of the epistle. Nay, it must 
be confessed, he has not hesitated to add to the dif- 
ficulty of following his train of reasoning by remarks 
of that nature, incidentally interjected, in the sixth and 
seventh chapters. But in orderly course, it is no time 
to be rearing the Superstructure of a building, before 
the Foundation is completed. And in the eighth 
chapter St. Paul is still engaged in showing forth the 
wonderful Foundation of Life and Immortality which 
has been laid for all alike by Christ Jesus. And the 
very basis of his reasoning is, that we were all dead in 
law by reason of sin, with the legal power of doing works 
for our redemption and justification utterly gone. 
Moreover, the inspired writer is just on the point of 
telling us how, in fact, we have been exalted also into 
being made the children of God ; and how it was all by 
a foreknown and predestined determination of God 
from before the foundation of the world ! We can well 
see, therefore, that when he is describing these pre- 
liminary, glorious works of God for all, it is not the 
time to be mixing up therewith the subsequent works 
of men on their own individual behalf. Let us first 
know that there is under us all such a stable, everlasting, 
all-glorious Foundation ; and then we may be persuaded 



Universal Immortality 8i 

how all-essential it is for us severally to be building 
thereupon a Superstructure of our own, which shall be 
in like manner stable, everlasting, and all-glorious. Let 
us realise that each one of us has been endowed with an 
endless, deathless Life as a son of God, with all the 
individual, inviolable sovereignty of will pertaining 
to our exalted condition; in order also to realise that 
the day of compulsory Grace for sinners is at an end; 
and that now, instead of permitting us to sin that Grace 
may abound,^ the Holy Father of us all will not tolerate 
in any one of His children, believer or unbeliever, 
baptised or unbaptised, a single spot, or wrinkle, or 
the slightest possible blemish. 2 Let the consciousness 
of our enduring filial relation to the all-holy God per- 
meate our souls, and in its logical order we shall gain 
more and more a due appreciation of the fact that the 
Second Death of Judgment according to Deeds has surely 
succeeded to the Final Death of Destruction ; and shall 
in consequence be continually penetrated with a sense 
of the necessity of making each Deed pure and holy. 
What an ever-present stimulant to high endeavour it 
would be, — one which under procrastinating ideas of the 
Judgment Day we do not have, — to realise that eternal 
or cBonic judgment ^ cannot possibly be postponed, but 
exists to-day as much as it ever will ; and that the fire 
of God's wrath is already prepared for the devil and his 
angels or children,* and will be proportioned in its 
intensity and fierceness to the demands of every oc- 
casion; and that the length of our "Day of Judg- 
ment" is in each case depending altogether upon 
ourselves, (a) 



» Rom. 6:1,2. 2 Eph. 5: 26, 27, 

3 Heb. 6: 2. « Matt. 25:41. 

6 



82 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§43. Personal Responsibility and Doctrinal 
Truth. — For wise reasons, which it does not belong to 
my present purpose to enter into, the Bible does not 
set forth the great principles of the doctrine of Christ 
in such clear, analysed, and regular form, as to be 
readily apprehended, and all possible mistakes and 
controversies avoided ; and, most consistently, does not 
allow of their being set forth authoritatively outside its 
pages. It is sufficient here to say, that the divine 
course adopted secures to men their liberty of choice 
as to the truth of doctrine, and puts upon them a 
personal responsibility, that tends to awaken their 
manhood, and to make them careful, watchful, and 
diligent. St. Paul, even more than other sacred writers, 
has been hard to comprehend to this very day. In 
fact, the apostle was aware of his obscurity, and shows 
it in many ways. I can well understand therefore, 
during his long train of thought in Romans, how 
anxious he would be at times to keep his readers from 
inferring, from the universality of his conclusions in 
regard to what Grace had done for sinners, that if they 
sinned the more, the Grace would the more abound ; — 
thus making their actions altogether indifferent and 
useless ; and I can see how, to correct this mischievous 
misunderstanding (which even at this day makes an 
imperfect faith sufficient for all purposes, even while 
visibly it produces imperfect works), he would be led, 
first, to repetition in diversified ways; then to intro- 
duce at times strong injunctions to good works, just 
where he is showing their utter nothingness in redeem- 
ing from Death and acquiring Life; and, finally, to the 
use of ambiguous sentences which belong primarily to 
his great line of thought, but in which, nevertheless, 
those who should not follow him therein might at 



All Men Children of God 83 



all events find an imperative direction to holiness of 
life. While there was, and still is, an evident necessity 
for all this care, it has also added to the difficiilty of 
getting at the apostle's primary idea in certain pas- 
sages; and this difficulty is particularly apparent in 
some of those which we have considered. 

§44. All Men Children of God. — But we 
have now reached the point where he enters upon 
the climax of his declarations. He would at last 
have us rise to an appreciation of the greatest fact 
of all that, with God Himself as the irrespective Re- 
deemer, Justifier, and Regenerator of men, they have 
all without exception been made His children. Fol- 
lowing up the previous declaration, above given, that 
the "flesh,** or "body," with its deeds, is dead in law, 
and powerless as a source of Life, and that God is the 
true Begetter of our Life, he adds in proof, "For as 
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of 
God. "(a) In other words, whoever has within him 
the inward movings of the Spirit of God leading him 
on to the good, — as is the case with us all, — that man 
carries within him the proof of a spirit which has come 
from God, and that, in spite of his sins, he has been by 
Him re-begotten into Life.^ That is to say, all men 
have the experience of the truth that they are the sons 
of God in their own hearts and consciences. For is 
there a man upon earth who has never had a demon- 
stration of the new Life within him ? And from whence 
did the inward moving to the good proceed, if not from 
the sole Source of all good? Surely, if there be the 
least evidence of spiritual good in a man, however 

1 "We know that we have passed from Death into Life, because 
we love the brethren. " i John 3 : 14. See § 64. 



84 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



degraded he may otherwise be, it must have been be- 
gotten in him of God; and if in all men there be the 
evidence of this spiritual life, then are all the children 
of God. Each man therefore, I repeat, and it is the 
idea of the apostle, carries within himself the testimony 
that he is a child of God. "For as many as are led by 
the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. '* Let no man 
accordingly who has within him a moving to the right 
be afraid of hopeless destruction, now that God has 
made him His immortal child. For if he is a son, then 
must he be like his Divine Parent, even an heir of God, 
or an inheritor of the Divine Nature. For such a man, 
or for all, Death is abolished, and Life and Immortality 
are brought to light, by the merciful, universal Regene- 
rator. So indeed St. Paul elsewhere tells us ; declaring 
also, that God ''hath saved us, and called us with a 
holy calling, not according to our works, but according 
to His own Purpose and the Grace which was given 
us in Christ Jesus before aeonic times." ^ Because 
therefore, ages before we were born, independently of 
our merits or demerits we have all been made children 
of the everlasting God, according to the Purpose of the 
seons, through the Faith of Christ, 2 the apostle in 
Romans goes on to say: 

•' For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again 

» 2 Tim. i: 8-10. Literally "before cBonic times"; — one of the 
many instances where the word so often translated everlasting and 
eternal in the Bible proves its limited meaning normally. The 
article before "Grace" is not in the Greek, but in English its in- 
sertion makes a clearer, less awkward, and even less ambiguous 
translation. For I will venture that many a reader, notwithstand- 
ing the singular number of the verb in the phrase "which was 
given," makes the "which" to refer to "Purpose" as well as to 
"Grace," and imagines the "was" to be a grammatical error. 

2 Eph. 3: II, 12. 



God's Glory 85 



to fear (i. e., ye have not been subjected to the law again 
to dread its sentence of Death) ; but ye have received the 
spirit of adoption (or, better, sonship),^ whereby we cry, 
Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
spirit (by the good within us) that we are children of God : 
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs 
{i. e.y we are together heirs) of (not with) Christ (that is, we 
inherit Life and the Spirit from God through Christ); if 
so be that we (all men) suffer together, that we may be 
also glorified together. "2 

In other words, all men thus inherit Life and the Spirit, 
and are made the sons and heirs jointly of God through 
Christ, if so be, as the apostle had declared, that they 
all together had been crucified with Christ, and had 
thereby ''suffered" Death before the law, that they 
might be also, all together, raised in Him to a new Life, 
wherein they are "together glorified" by becoming such 
sons and heirs. ^ We perceive, therefore, that just as 
St. Paul began his preaching to the Athenian idolaters 
by announcing to them that they were the sons of 
God, so he still preaches to us in his glorious epistle. 

§45. God's Glory Revealed in His Children. — 
In this momentous declaration he reaches the cli- 
max of his revelations of what the Grace of God in 
Christ has freely done for man, and of its exalted pur- 
pose in behalf of us all. And we shall presently hear 
from the thankful apostle notes of holy joy on a higher 
and more prolonged strain than is elsewhere to be 

1 See Gal. 4: 5. 6, and §45. 

2 Rom. 8: 14-17. See i John 3: 24; 4: 7. 12, 13. 

2 I.e., the idea is, that all suffer Death together in Christ to be- 
come sons of God, not that they must suffer individually in differ- 
ing measure to become perfect, however true also that undoubtedly 



86 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



found in his epistles. And yet, to think, that even the 
ecstatic notes of his glad, catholic heart, because of 
what glorious things God had already done, and still 
purposes to do for all His fallen creation in His eternal 
love and mercy, should be wrested by such logical 
minds as Augustine, and Calvin, and Luther too, and 
hosts of others, to the destruction, that is, according to 
their misunderstanding, of the greater number of souls, 
and to the disquieting of many an humble follower of 
Christ. How totally different from their destructive 
ideas was the spirit and intention of St. Paul ! In fact, 
at this place in the epistle, he looks back at the glorious 
things of which he had been telling, and proceeds to 
show what comfort their redemption, justification, and 
being made sons of God, should be to the whole crea- 
tion now in the pains of travail and of gradual evolution. 
And grouping together what God had thus done for 
His creatures, he rises into most gladsome words of 
ecstatic joy because thereof, — the very words which 
Augustine and the rest have so horribly perverted, — 
and declares anew in exultant strain the high, future, 
undeviating purpose in behalf of all which is by these 
things evinced. To give the apostle's words: 

" For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall 
be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the 
creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God 
(or, for the time when it shall be shown forth unmistakably 
that all creatures are verily the sons of God). For the 
creation hath been subjected to vanity, (bound fast in the 
bondage of changeful nature, with all its trials and troubles 
here and hereafter,) — not of its own will, but through 
(the power of) the One who hath subjected, — in hope; 
(or by no baleful predestination) ; because the creation 



God's Glory 87 



itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption 
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For 
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth 
in pain together until now. And not only (the whole) , but 
even ourselves, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for 
sonship {i. e., the fruition or manifestation [v. 19] of 
sonship,^ to wit) the redemption of the body of us (or, 
'the deliverance 2 of our body,' even the whole body of 
those having the firstfruits, from all evil).^ For we have 

1 The word seems to require amplification or emphasis to make 
the passage intelligible. It literally means "making of a son"; 
and in Horn. Ven. 256, 283, the noun and verb of which the word 
is compounded, used together, denote natural generation. Strictly, 
the meaning, whether natural or by adoption, depends upon the 

context. Thus, in inscriptions, " son of by son-making" 

signifies a son "by adoption." In the preceding context of Rom. 
8: 23, however, St. Paul has distinctly affirmed that we are already 
children of God, and that the spirit (whether of adoption or son- 
ship) has already been received. How then can we be said to 
wait for that which we already have? Shall we confine his words 
to the world before the Cross ? Hardly ; for he is evidently speaking 
of present conditions — how we had been made heirs, and are now 
waiting for the inheritance. The rendering "sonship" may be 
made in every one of the five places in the N. T. in which the word 
is used; to wit: Rom. 8: 15, 23; 9: 4; Gal. 4: 5 (that we might 
receive the said sonship. See §124.); Eph. i: 5 (predestined unto 
sonship). I prefer in Rom. 8: 23 "sonship," as better denoting 
the future realisation of the hope set before us, of which the apostle 
is speaking. Moreover, the new Life within us is said to be begotten 
of God, not adopted. 

2 As in the preceding note it was not the fact, but the realisation 
thereof, for which we are said to wait, so here it is not redemption 
in its ordinary sense which is spoken of, i.e., from Death, but the 
redemption from the Second Death, or the deliverance from Sin- 
fulness and Suffering, as becomes the condition of a perfect son 
of God. In Heb. 11: 35 the a. v. and r. v. translate the word 
"deliverance. " 

3 Literally, "the redemption of the body of us." The apostle 
is not referring to the redemption already effected for all, nor to a 
resurrection of our natural bodies: but to the deliverance from 



88 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



been saved in that hope.^ But hope that is seen is not 
hope; for what one seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But 
if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience 
wait. 

" And likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for 
we know not how we should pray as we ought; but the 
Spirit itself interveneth in aid of our unspeakable groan- 
ings.2 Yea, He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is 
the desire of our^ spirit; for, like a God, He interveneth 
in aid of holy things " ; 

evil of the whole body of us, even of all creation now groaning and 
travailing in pain. There is the same use of the word in Eph. 
1 : 14 and 4: 30. 

1 Lit. "in the hope" (dative case in the Greek without a prepo- 
sition). That is, we have been saved from Death in the anticipa- 
tion of this further deliverance. The article refers back to the 
hope previously mentioned — i. e., our subjection to the natural 
in hope. The possible bearing of this mysterious passage upon our 
own past history, now happily wiped from our memories, should 
not be overlooked; for it seems to regard man as the developed 
head of all visible life, and as having a community of interest 
therewith, or as "the firstfruits," but still in a state of groaning 
and travailing, and not yet delivered. See Hos. 13: 13. 

2 To wit, those mentioned just before in verse 23. It is also 
the literal Greek. 

3 Lit. "the." For those unacquainted with Greek I should 
emphasise the fact, of which the versions afford many instances, 
that the Greek, like several well-known modern languages, prefers 
the article where we would use the pronoun. Those who in this 
passage make God the Spirit to be spoken of as interceding with 
GoD the Father — the God of Love — the very One who sent the 
Spirit to be our Guide and Helper! — are consistent in their error 
in holding "the Spirit" here to be interceding with groaning! 
I can understand, indeed, why Jesus, in His human nature as our 
Atoner, should pray to and intercede for us with God, even to 
bitter groaning. But the act of the Holy Spirit, in taking up His 
abode with men severally, is not looked upon as so many incarna- 
tions, and is not revealed as such. Shall we then unnecessarily 
introduce the inharmonious idea here of God praying to God, and 
of His doing so with groaning? The normal senses of the Greek 



Travail Brings Comfort 89 

not alone of saints indeed ; since that would be of small 
comfort to sinful men; but in aid of us all, whom the 
apostle had proclaimed to have been justified, ^ and 
made sons of God, and were therefore now to be con- 
sidered as ''holy things'*; no one being excluded from 
the intervention, any more than from God's other 
irrespective benefits of rain, and light, and air. To us 
all, then, in encouragement of each one's personal effort, 
the apostle continues : ' 'And we know that to them that 
love God all things work together for good, — to them 
that are called 2 according to the Purpose"; — that is 
to say, the Purpose manifested in our Redemption, 
Justification, and being made sons of God. 

§ 46. Travail Brings Comfort to God's Chil- 
dren. — Interrupting for a moment the apostle's 
words, let us observe, in respect of this comforting 
encouragement by him given, that of all who groan and 
travail, it takes the form of comfort to those only who 

verb are, to chance or light upon, fall in with, meet with, etc.; and, 
joined here with a preposition signifying over, above, in aid or 
hehalf of, etc., we have very naturally in this passage the idea of 
the intervention of the higher power in our behalf, when we know 
not how to pray as we ought, and, as it were, the heart is using 
inarticulate groans. In the versions, however, in the face of the 
literal Greek, and as though the Holy Spirit were a second incarna- 
tion of God repeated in each man, it is He who is proclaimed to 
give forth the groans. See, however, verse 23. Let the scholar 
carefully examine again the Greek of this whole passage, and rid 
himself of these preposterous ideas. 

1 I.e., made righteous or holy, and accordingly a holy thing. 

2 The Purpose is universal, as will "be testified in due time" 
(i Tim. 2:6); but all for a while may not hear, or do not give heed 
to, the universal call. Those who do not will not receive the Spirit 
as a Comforter, but as a consuming fire. The Vulgate reads: 
"who according to the purpose are called, being made holy," or 
"being sanctified." 



90 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



love God. So consistent is the Bible in its every detail ; 
retaining an apparently unconscious harmony, where 
at some point or other amid the complexity of spiritual 
things, the hand of man would be sure to betray itself 
by contradiction. For although St. Paul is writing in 
gladsome mood of what has been done for all men, and 
is about to come to the climax of his exultation in 
respect of the high purpose of God in behalf of all, he 
does not forget that the comfort of a redeemed and 
justified and GoD-derived Life is only for the deserving; 
and that as a Comforter the world at large, or the old 
man within, cannot receive the Holy Spirit. ^ Just 
as of Judas Iscariot it was even said, that it had been 
good for that man if he had never been born. It may do 
for theologians and metaphysicians to argue that "Life 
is a good" even in an endless hell; but the Bible does 
not make it a good, even in a hell of temporary dura- 
tion, for any who wilfully persist in their sins. 2 And 
how terrible may be the sufferings, not merely "of 
this present time," but of future aeons or lives, to the 
persistently wicked, who can tell ? For, certainly, the 
aeonic judgment, or judgment from life to life, of 
the holy God will not permit of the least trifling with 
the holy gifts which have been purchased by the pre- 
cious blood of His dear Son; and as our condition be- 
comes more and more perverse, in like degree, we are 
assured, will the non-compelling judgments increase in 
intensity. And, of all others, who more require a 

» John 14: 17. I Cor. 2: 14. 

2 Rather, the Bible calls the life of the wicked death, saying of 
them that they are dead while they live; and contrasts their life, 
as being death and cursing, with that of the good, as being not 
only life, but blessing. See Deut. 28: 66; 30: 15, 19. Prov. 18: 21. 
Matt. 8: 22; 26: 24. i Tim. 5: 6. i John 3: 14. Jude 12. 
Rev. 2 : II ; 21 : 8. 



Travail Brings Comfort 91 

stern awakening than the indifferent,^ the careless, 
and those that scoff ? While they are in that condition, 
they do not even ask for comfort. For the perversely 
wicked, accordingly, there is little comfort to be 
extracted from the consciousness that they can never 
finally die; and even less from the declaration that 
God out of hope hath subjected them to a changeful 
condition, and will never give up the hope, any more 
than He will at any time surrender His eternal love 
and mercy. Rather, to them the meaning is inevitable 
judgment, continual chastisement; a vain calling to the 
mountains and rocks to fall on them, and hide them 
**from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb " ;2 in short, no way of escape 
except by the one hated road of repentance, which 
daily grows before them longer, and more tedious, and 
irksome, and generally disagreeable. Indeed, in per- 
sistency, as well as severity, what a terrible meaning 
has the Wrath of God's Love! for, unlike hate, that 
Love is eternal. Accordingly, the wrath of hate may 
have its day, and then it dies; but the Wrath of God's 
Love can never cease until its purpose is wholly gained. 
And so, from the Wrath of the Lamb the sinner, whether 
he be what we call converted, or a believer, or not, can 
never be hidden. That is to say, in respect of Sinfulness, 
the Lamb will never suffer Himself to be defiled into 
becoming the hiding-place of the sinner. Only in 
respect of final Death is the Cross an effectual hiding 
place from the Wrath of God; or, on the one hand, only 
where, instead of contracting a stain, the justice and 
mercy of God are aided by the universal and eternal 
prolongation of the life of sinners, and, on the other, 
where also, instead of bringing degradation upon men 

» Rev. 3: 16. 2 Rev, 6: i6. 



92 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



as a creation of God, the Cross, with its adjunct of the 
Spirit, preserves and exalts the godlike sovereignty 
which is their irrevocable gift. So much then for the 
apostle's comfort, and the limitation thereof to those 
that love God. It is for those that groan and travail, 
indeed, but only when at length they shall show forth 
the firstfruits of the Spirit, and shall learn to love God, 
and so not only recognise themselves as called and 
chosen, but exalted, pursuant to His universal, seonic 
Purpose. 

§ 47. Justification Makes Men Sons of God. — 
But in that Purpose, so irrevocably fixed in behalf 
of all His creatures on the part of the God of Love 
and Mercy, the good apostle finds not only com- 
fort, but his heart is stirred to its depths with joy and 
gratitude, because of what God has done for all; and 
as he turns to review the things which, as an inspired 
writer, he had been revealing, his enthusiasm mounts 
apace, and becomes contagious. He remembers how 
God had chosen to redeem and justify all men in 
Christ before the foundation of the world; and to the 
holy St. Paul it was all the greater comfort and satis- 
faction, because the universal, everlasting redemption 
and justification had been effected in the hope of lead- 
ing the redeemed and justified to become as holy and 
perfect in their own personal subjection to God, as they 
have been made by imputation in Christ. With 
gratitude therefore the sacred writer calls to mind, how 
God had predestinated them unto this holy sonship to 
Himself through Jesus Christ ; and how, pursuant to this 
purpose, in due time Christ had died for the ungodly; 
and that the free gift had come unto all men to 
Justification of Life; and that men had been verily 



Justification 93 



made children of God. And so in joyous review he 
writes : 

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated (to be) 
conformed to the image of His Son, that He (the Son) 
might be the firstborn among many brethren (or among 
all men; [many], as usual with the apostle, including all) ; ^ 
and whom He predestinated, them He also called: (for 
God not only calleth all men to repentance, but, more- 
over. His gifts and calling are without change of mind, or 
recall, as the apostle afterwards tells us) : 2 and whom He 
called, them He also justified: (making no distinction, but 
justifying all that have sinned, 'freely by His Grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus '):3 and 
whom He justified, them He also glorified " (that is, to be 
made His children). 

» After St. Paul's usual manner, "whom" and the equivalent 
"many" mean "all." See §44(0) and Rom. 4: 17, 18, "father 
of many nations." — And Heb. 9: 28, "Christ was once offered to 
bear the sins of many." — And Heb. 2: 8-12: "Thou hast put all 
things in subjection under His feet. For in that He has put all 
things in subjection under Him, He has left nothing that is not put 
under Him. But now we see not yet all things subordinated to 
Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
angels because of the suffering of Death, crowned with glory and 
honour; that He by the Grace of God should taste Death for every 
man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through 
whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make 
the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For 
both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; 
for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren (even the 
many sons of God, or every man for whom He tasted Death) ; saying, 
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. " And in like manner it 
is said soon after in verses 14, 15, "that through Death He might 
destroy him that hath the power of Death, that is, the devil; 
and deliver them as many as (or, such as) through fear of Death 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." And "many," we 
have seen, is not by any means the only limited expression by 
using which the apostle clearly means to designate all men. His 
writings are full of such expressions. 

2 Rom. 11:29. 3 Rom. 3 : 24 ; 5:18. 



94 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



' § 48. God Calls Men According to His Pur- 

pose. — Corresponding with this celebrated passage 
St. Paul elsewhere writes, how God * 'hath saved us, and 
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to His own Purpose, and the Grace which 
was given us in Christ Jesus, before aeonic times, . . . 
who hath abolished Death, and hath brought Life and 
Immortality to light through the gospel. "^ Indeed, 
we are too apt to forget that, in the matter of predes- 
tination and calling, our Lord came not to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance ; 2 and that it was 
the salvation of all sinners which He purposed by His 
Death; none of us being good (quotes the apostle 
emphatically), ''no, not one. "^ How strange that 
such minds as those of Augustine and Calvin did not 
see the plain, universal basis upon which St. Paul builds 
the declarations by them unhappily perverted! and 
too, when he takes so great care in express terms to 
show from time to time, that they are made of all men ! 
Indeed, if any one of the declarations, no matter which, 
is of universal significance, the same significance neces- 
sarily attaches to every declaration ; both because every 
one has a common, underlying basis, and because also 
every declaration is dependent upon and specially 
asserted in respect of the others, and is of the same 
creatures. Whatever, for example, is declared of those 
whom God foreknew, is also declared of those — neither 
more nor less — ^whom He predestinated, and called, and 
justified, and glorified. And if, for further example, 
"the free gift came unto all men to Justification of 
Life," then, necessarily, according to the inspired 
writer's mutually connected statements, are the same 

« 2 Tim. 1 : 9, 10. See also Eph. i : 3-10. 

2Matt. 9: 13. 3 Rom. 3:10. 



Inseparable Bond between Christ and Us 95 



*'all men" foreknown, predestinated, called, and 
glorified. There is no possible evasion of this conclu- 
sion; and it makes no manner of difference at what 
particular link of the apostle's chain we start to run it 
out. What is asserted of his *'whom" in any one case, 
he makes to be asserted of the same "whom" in every 
other. But if we wonder that such minds as those of 
Augustine and Calvin should not have seen these 
things, let us remember the great lesson of our Lord, 
and also of the sacred writers in many places, that 
to promote the manhood of men, and to correct their 
slavish, sheeplike following of authority among them- 
selves, and to preserve their personal independence of 
judgment, God doth hide from the wise and prudent 
what He reveals even unto babes. ^ 

§ 49. The Inseparable Bond between Christ 
AND Us. — Nay, still more strange is it, that Augustine 
and Calvin should not have understood the universal 
intent of St. Paul's declarations, in view of the fact 
that the apostle, immediately upon putting these 
declarations into a chain of common significance to 
all, once more expressly explains, that he is speaking 
of **us all." For thus he continues (31, 32): ''What 
shall we then say to these things ? If God be for us, who 
can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, 
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with 
Him also freely give us (that is, of course, ' us all ') all 
things?" O what delight must have been in the holy 
apostle's human, godlike heart as he uttered trium- 
phantly this convincing and most encouraging question. 
In the same spirit of exultation he goes on (33, 34): 

"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect f 
iMatt. 11: 25. 



9^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



It is God that justifieth (here again making the elect the 
equivalent of the justified, which latter the sacred writer 
in express words had declared to be 'all men'). Who is 
he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, 
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, 
who also (like the Spirit does for all the groaning and 
travailing creation) interveneth in our behalf," 

or for all for whom He, Christ, died and rose again. 

The apostle is now at his highest pitch of exultation, 
rejoicing the more because of the enduring nature of 
what had been done by the love of God, through Christ 
and the Spirit, *'for us all." He tells us, first, of the 
inseparable bond of love between Christ and us (35-37), 
and then adds (38, 39) : 

"For I am persuaded, (would that we all could be!) that 
neither death, (which is but the passage into another agon, 
and is not at all the unpardonable sin which it is made to 
be, being in fact, in general, involuntarily suffered), nor 
life (and how imperfect that is we all know), nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers (however bad, or subtle, 
or powerful, — nay, not Satan himself), nor things present 
(however vile), nor things to come (though they be the 
lowest depths of hell, and all the wickedness that brought 
us there), nor height (which, if not perfection, requires 
God's aiding providence to make it higher), nor depth 
(whatever our depravity and degradation), nor any other 
creature (whoever it be, or whatever it be, that shall lead 
us astray), shall be able to separate us (though such miser- 
able sinners) from the Love of God, which is (not based 
upon any merit that is in us, but is) in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." 

§ 50. Same Salvation for Jews and Gentiles. — 
All unaware, seemingly, of how men were to wrest his 
joyous words to the destruction of the great majority 



Jews and Gentiles 97 



of souls, the sacred writer proceeds in the 9th, loth, and 
nth chapters of his epistle to divest the Jews, if 
possible, of their narrow-hearted exclusiveness, by 
showing them, that if God were pleased to do these 
exalted things which had been told of for the Gentiles 
also, as well as for them, or for all men alike. He cer- 
tainly had the right ; for He surely was the Potter, and 
His too was the clay; and that if they were unwilling 
to put themselves on a par with the Gentiles before God, 
then nought remained, but that the Gentiles should in 
their turn become the chosen vessels of God to receive 
and hold forth to the world the glorious news of what 
St. Jude calls *'the common salvation"; even as the 
Jews had previously been His chosen vessels to foretell 
thereof by suggestive types and symbols; the which, 
however, they had not themselves understood. And 
so it would be for the wise Potter, although to the un- 
making of His previously favoured Church, to make of 
His lumps of clay vessels to honour or to dishonour, 
according to their respective fitness for the carrying 
out of His beneficent purpose in regard to all. For 
thus would He at the first bring in *'the fulness of the 
Gentiles," and afterward also have all Israel saved; 
making "in due time" the whole lump unto honour. 
And it is therefore, after declaring these things in many 
ways, and at considerable length, and how unalterable 
is the Purpose of God in behalf of all men, whether 
Jews or Gentiles, that the apostle consistently finishes 
up the *' Foundation" part of his epistle in these all- 
embracing words : 

''For the Gifts and the Calling of God are without re- 
pentance (i. e. unchangeable). 1 For as ye (Gentiles) in 

1 Lit. "not to be repented of. " 
7 



98 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



times past have not believed God, yet have now ob- 
tained mercy through their (the Jews') unbelief; even so 
have these (Jews) also now not believed, that through 
your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath 
concluded them all {i. e. both Jews and Gentiles, or all 
men) as regards unbelief, that He might have mercy upon 
all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, 
and His ways past tracing out! For who hath known 
the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? 
or who hath first given to Him, that it should be recom- 
pensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, 
and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. 
Amen." (Rom. 11: 29-36.) 

§51. The Superstructure — Men's Work for 
Themselves. — ^And now at length it is, or at the begin- 
ning of the 12th chapter, after having shown what the 
Foundation laid in Jesus Christ has done for all men, 
that the apostle proceeds to the Superstructure to be 
built thereupon, or to what men severally must do for 
themselves. To his logical mind the first thing in due 
order was the Faith or Works of Christ ; and after that 
the faith or works of men. It was first the Grace of 
God ; but now, with the indwelling Spirit to guide, and 
stimulate, and be, if necessary, '*a consuming fire," it 
is what man himself shall do. It was first, therefore, 
the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ, and what was freely 
by it accomplished; but now that that all gratuitous 
Sacrifice is, with the Body of Christ, removed from 
earth, and therefore that "though we have known 
Christ as Flesh, yet now we know Him so no more," ^ 
and now that the Spirit accordingly utterly refuses to 
pardon our sinful condition, nothing remains but for 

1 2 Cor. 5: 16. 



The Superstructure 99 



men to make sacrifices of their own bodies; not to 
Death, of course, for that normal debt of guilt was 
fully paid when the great Sacrifice was still here, and 
was duly offered; but in activity of Life, through all 
manner of good works. And so the apostle proceeds: 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by (or, because of) 
the mercies of God (of which he had told) , to present your 
bodies a living sacrifice (or not an altar sacrifice), holy, 
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
And be not conformed to this life : ^ but be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove how the 
will of God is that which is good, and acceptable, and 
perfect." 

That is to say, each man by his holy life of self-sacrifice 
can prove as to himself that God's will, purpose, and 
predestination are, verily, as good, acceptable, and 
perfect as the apostle of all nations has declared them to 
be in respect of all. For as God is the only Source of 
good, and, as St. James says, "every good gift and 
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from 
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, 
neither shadow of turning"; so any goodness in man 
evidences the unchangeable will, purpose, and pre- 
destination of God (from whom that goodness descends) , 
that man should become perfect, and that he is called 
to better things. 2 But our present subject does not 
require that we should go with St. Paul into the minute 
details of moral duty which he now enforces upon his 
readers, as consequential upon the grand position in 
which the work of the Faith of Christ has placed them. 

» As is the normal meaning of aion in Greek. It never means 
strictly "world." 
2 Rom. 8: 14-17. 



loo The Foundation and the Superstructure 



The purpose of this volume at present simply demands 
attention to the showing forth by the apostle, first, 
of the necessity, when men were dead by reason of their 
trespasses and sins, of regeneration of them all by 
the Divine Power, and of their consequent universal 
Redemption from Death and Justification unto Life; 
and that, secondly, in view of the Divine Nature of 
the Begetter of this new Life, all men have therefore 
been made for ever the sons of God, having been born 
of God through Christ and the Spirit, like producing like. 

§ 52. Agreement of Paul and James. — Leaving, 
therefore, St. Paul to enforce upon men, who have been 
made immortal, the imperative necessity of holiness 
of life, if they would not remain in this life and in all 
future life in the consuming fire which (the apostle in 
his next epistle tells them) is continually trying each 
man's works, it may be interesting to observe how 
exactly all that has been said by St. Paul tallies with 
the Epistle of St. James. Luther confessed that his 
doctrine of the individual justifying himself by his 
own faith did not agree with that epistle, and pre- 
sumptuously denied in consequence its inspiration, 
calling it an epistle of straw! And his many followers 
who are believers in that inspiration are continually 
floundering under like difficulty; and often manifest 
their trouble by attempting some other preposterous 
method of getting around their difficulty. The truth is, 
they have not at all understood St. Paul; and they 
never suspect that with him, and not St. James, is the 
true cause of their perplexity; and this, notwithstanding 
the express warning in regard to the obscurity of St. 
Paul's epistles given us by St. Peter, ^ and in spite 

J 2 Pet. 3: 16. 



Paul and James loi 



of St. Paul's own plain declarations that the Righteous- 
ness of God through the Faith of Jesus Christ is the true 
and only instrumentality for the justification of men ; ^ 
and that thereby all men have been made sons of God. 2 

1 Such, for example, as those in Rom. 3: 3, 22, 26 (see Greek); 
5: I, 6-21; 6: 23; 7: 4; 11: 32; I Cor. 3: 9-16; 6: 19, 20; 
10: 1-6; 15: 22-28. 2 Cor. 5: 14-21; 13: 4-6. Gal. i: 4-9; 2: 
16, 20; 3: 10-14, 22-26 (see Greek); 5: 4 (spoken argumen- 
tatively as in 3: 21), 25. Eph. i: 4-10. To revive the memory 
of St. Paul's consistency in the matter, let me repeat some of his 
statements from different epistles, the which have not been quoted 
as often as some other examples: Eph. 2 : 8-10: "For by the said 
Grace have ye been saved through His faith (literally, 'through 
the Faith,' referring to God's 'Grace in kindness toward us in 
Christ Jesus' going immediately before); and that (salvation by 
Grace through His Faith) not of yourselves : it is the Gift of God : 
not of works (and therefore again, as faith is a work, not of any 
man's own faith), lest any man should boast. For we are His 
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God 
hath before prepared that we should walk in them." 3: 11, 12: 
"According to the Purpose of the aeons which He purposed in 
Christ Jesus our Lord; in whom we have boldness and access with 
confidence through the Faith of Him." Phil. 3: 7-9: "But 
what things were profit to me, these I counted loss for Christ; . . . 
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them 
but dung, that I may profit by Christ, and be found in Him, not 
having mine own righteousness, which is from law, but that which 
is through the Faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by His 
Faith." Literally, "by the (said) Faith." Col. 2: 12, 13: "Ye 
have been together raised through the Faith of the operation 
of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in 
your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He 
together quickened in Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses." 
I Tim. 1: 13, 14: "I obtained mercy, because, being ignorant, 
I acted in unbelief. And the Grace of our Lord superabounded 
with Faith and Love, that, namely, in Christ Jesus." I.e., St. 
Paul's unbelief is opposed to Christ's Grace and Faith and Love. 
Cf. 2 Tim. 1 : 13. And see, among other examples. Col. 3:4. i Th. 
5: 9, 10. 2 Th. 2: 16, 17. Tit. i: 2; 2: 11; 3: 4-7. Heb. 12: 2, 
"Jesus the Beginner and Finisher of the Faith" (not our in this 
text). 

2 Rom. 8: 14-17. Gal. 4: 4-9. Eph. i: 4-6. Tit. 3: 7. 



I02 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§ 53. Teaching of James. — ^Let us then compare 
very briefly what St. James says. For the inspired 
St. Paid himself gives us as a rule to discover and test 
what is spiritual truth, to compare spiritual things with 
spiritual things. ^ And in the first place, St. James also 
tells us of the universality of sin, and of Death as its 
normal penalty ; how God did not tempt any man, but 
that every man had been enticed by his own lust, and 
that his sin had brought forth Death (i : 14, 15) ; that, 
indeed, a single sin was quite enough to bring upon him 
his condemnation, just the same as if he were to break 
the whole moral law (2: 8-1 1). And the same apostle 
declares, we remember, God to be the unchangeable 
Giver of all good. And then clearly and distinctly he 
tells us how God of His own will, or not at all of ours, 
when we were thus dead in sin, had begotten us, or 
brought us forth — that is, had made us alive, as His 
begotten children, by the Word of Truth (i :i8); 
namely, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life; and that the wrath of 
man worketh not the Righteousness of God. There 
could not possibly be greater harmony between the 
two apostles. They are only at disagreement, when 
the one or the other, usually St. Paul, is perverted. 
Their harmony in speaking of the faith of the individual 
(whose very want of faith had brought forth Sin and 
Death), as having nothing to do with Justification 
before the perfectly righteous God, has already been 
shown. And they were the more earnest in the matter, 
because even in their days also there were pretenders 
to just such miserable justification; that is, to the 
making of a man to be accounted righteous by the 
awfully holy God because of the identical, imperfect 

» I Cor. 2 : 13. 



James's Teaching 103 

faith which killed him! And if these very early up- 
holders of justification by one's own faith had written 
books, like as did their follower Augustine, the great 
bishop of Hippo, they too would have been numbered 
among ''the fathers," even ranking with the first! 
But how St. James ridicules them! And St. Paul with 
all consistency could have subscribed to every word 
of the ridicule. 

§54. James's Teaching (cont.) — *'My brethren," 
cries St. James to these pretenders, comparing their 
Death-producing faith to the perfect, justifying Faith 
of the Son of God, ''My brethren, ye have not the 
Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord (and there- 
fore only Source) of Glory (and, to give an obvious 
example even), with respect of persons." Note how 
in this, like St. Paul, he makes the perfection of the 
Faith of the true Justifier to necessitate impartiality 
in all that He does. And then he goes on to show the 
partial faith of the Christians of his day; who, just as 
they are in our own time, were obsequious and sup- 
pliant to the rich, even in their very meetings for the 
worship of the impartial God, and although the rich 
blasphemed the Name of their Divine Master, and were 
their personal oppressors; while to the poor at those 
meetings they were arrogant and contemptuous. And 
just as St. Paul had declared that it was only the just 
or righteous man who could live by his faith, so St. 
James tells the pretenders to self-justification, that 
their faith was imperfect, and hence not sufficient for 
the purpose, and their pretence therefore altogether 
vain, their conduct or "works" not being just or 
righteous to perfection; since they did not fulfil the 
royal law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"; 



I04 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



for that to respect persons was a sin, and made a man a 
transgessor of God's perfect law, just the same as if he 
became an adulterer or a murderer; and that, however 
little the transgression, inasmuch as its punishment was 
Death, the transgressor would fare no worse, even 
though he broke every commandment of the law.^ 
What therefore did it profit, the apostle asked, to talk 
about their faith, when their works killed them? How, 
moreover, could faith, without works, even clothe the 
naked before men, or feed the hungry? So, no more 
could faith, without works which were altogther perfect, 
so clothe a man with righteousness before God, as to 
entitle him to life, or as to feed him with the Bread of 
Life. Such faith would be a dead, unproductive faith ; 
that is, like their own, which had not made them ir- 
respective of persons; and accordingly, before the law, 
would only adjudge the believer to be entitled to Death. 
The very devils, he continued, had true faith in respect 
of mere doctrine. They were not like the ignorant 
idolaters around them. They believed in the one God. 
That is to say, even the devils were too intelligent to 
bow down to altars and images of wood and stone, as 
believers in the idea of any divinity attaching to ma- 
terial things ; but they did no good works, but evil ; and 
so, according to the apostle, for all their faith, they 
trembled; as also, it may be added, ought we to do; 
for it is only perfect love or faith that should cast out 
fear. 

§ 55. James's Perfect Agreement with Paul. — 
And here the wisdom of inspiration caused the apostle 

1 Including "the work of faith"; that is, like the scribes and 
Pharisees, leaving "undone the weightier matters of the Law, 
judgment, and mercy, and faith." Matt. 23:23. i Th. i: 3. 
2 Th. i: II. And see John 6: 29; i John 3: 25. 



James's Agreement with Paul 105 



to correct the mistake which is made because of the 
obscurity of St. Paul, when he Hkened the restoration 
of the Hfe of Isaac by virtue of Abraham's Faith to the 
Faith of Christ which had restored the world to Life. 
For the sacred writer substantially tells us, that the 
justification in the particular instance in the life of 
Abraham was because his works were imputed perfect, 
and were conjoined with the faith, making imputedly 
a perfect faith; and thus — in the particular instance 
only, however — ^Abraham had had "accounted" to 
him a justifying righteousness, and became thereby 
the saviour of his child from natural death. And St. 
James himself also mentions another typical example 
of a Salvation from Death on a particular occasion 
because of good works for God, or that of Rahab, the 
harlot, who, in addition to saving the twelve represen- 
tative spies of the tribes of Israel, had also, by her 
typical scarlet thread, been saved herself with her 
family, as representing the Gentiles.^ Thus has the 
inspiration of God taken care to tell us plainly that 
there is no distinction whatever between faith and 
other works on the part of man to justify him unto life ; 
but that to do this requires both perfect works and 
perfect faith, and that no man has either the one or the 
other; and that also he cannot have the one, without 
the other being conjoined therewith. Says St. James: 
"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and 
not by faith only. . . . For as the body without the 
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." 
The apostle then adds a solemn injunction not to set 
ourselves up as so many authoritative teachers, or 

» By conjoining Abraham with Rahab, whom he calls "the 
harlot," the intention of the illustrations is made the more 
apparent. 



io6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



masters, under fear of greater judgment upon any man 
who should do so;^ telHng us that in many things 
we all stumble ; whereas it is only the perfect man 
who stumbleth not — ^not even by a word. And after 
showing how exceedingly we lack in perfection, and 
illustrating it by our words, he speaks again of the per- 
fection of the Divine Righteousness, naming once more, 
among other things, its entire freedom from partiality. 
It is hardly necessary to add of St. James — for no one 
would be likely to assert the contrary — that, equally 
with St. Paul, he too is earnest in proclaiming the 
necessity of the Superstructure of individual good 
works, including faith, to be built unto perfection upon 
the Foundation laid for all by that perfect, irrespective 
Faith, which he mentions, ' *of the Lord Jesus Christ" ;2 
through whom, he says, even through the Word of 
Truth, the Father, of His own will, or freely, has begot- 
ten us to be His sons. See then, when we interpret 
St. Paul according to his own words, instead of by 
mistranslations, how perfectly he and St. James agree. 

§ 56. — Salient Points Reviewed. — ^To make a brief 
review : The salient points in the teaching of Christian- 
ity, in which we find such unmistakable harmony, are 
these: i. All men sinners; causing, 2. Universal Death. 
3. Universal Recovery to a new Life by the irrespect- 

1 That is, without being, like the apostle, authorised and in- 
spired; for it would violate the gift of revelation to all alike (Deut. 
29: 29, etc.), and would be adding to or taking from the word of 
the Lord. But although no one should claim his own words to 
be specially authorised or inspired, it is yet made the solemn duty 
of every one to teach the word of the Lord according to the special 
ability which God gives him, and to be always ready to give a 
reason for the hope that is in him. 

2 "Building up yourselves on your most holy Faith, praying in 
the Holy Ghost, " or, rather, " a holy spirit. " Jude 20. See § 2 5 (6; . 



Salient Points Reviewed 107 



ive, all-loving God through the Life and Death of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, or by God becoming Man, and mak- 
ing Himself a Substitute for man both in respect of 
Life and Death. 4. The new Life, therefore, neces- 
sarily a free Gift to the dead; who, though merciftilly 
preserved in Life until, and in order to bring about, the 
consummation of the all-embracing Purpose, were 
nevertheless, under the sentence of the law, regarded as 
wholly dead, — dead as stones, — and in a correspond- 
ingly helpless condition. 5. As God is the sole Source 
of all Life, and the Author, in particular, of the new 
Life thus freely and irrespectively given to all when 
unable to acquire it for themselves. He is called, in 
a figure, its ''Begetter," that is, "our Father" ;i and 
we all are said to be "regenerated," or "born again," 
and to have been made His children; these strong, 
figurative expressions serving to indicate at the same 
time a birth as helpless babes, or man's utter depend- 
ence upon God for the new Life, and for the loftiest 
dignity to be derived from the Almighty Father. 
Hence, 6. As coming from God, the new Life thus 
begotten in us is declared to be, like the Father's, pure, 
holy, and immortal. 

But if this were all, and man had no longer a will as 
inviolably free as ever, even to the doing of evil if he 
chose, there would be taught incompatible things; for 
man would be represented as a child of God, and yet be 
a slave, — ^nay , as said before, a mere machine ; and God 
would be an undignified machine-maker who worships 
and praises Himself through His machines with puerile 
satisfaction. Let us carefully observe, then, the super- 
naturally wise teaching which has solved this difiiculty. 

1 The primary idea of the Prayer taught us by our Lord, through 
whom we are made children of God. Matt. 6:9. 



io8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

§ 57. The Duality of Man's Nature. — Accord- 
ingly, 7. The new Life given to man is indeed holy, 
and being born of God cannot sin ; but the will of the 
man remains, and with all its self -acquired sinful taint. 
And that will may not be coerced; but the man is 
adjudged guilty of an Unpardonable Sin, which must 
be brought voluntarily by him to its Death. The Sin- 
fulness of the will and the Mortality of the sin affect not, 
however, the new Life implanted within the man ; which 
rather is in continual resistance to that Sinfulness to 
the end. And so the man lives on, with two separate, 
hostile natures; one of which St. Paul calls ''the new 
man," which is the child of God, and the other "the 
old man," which is the child of the devil; the mortal 
nature finally to perish before the immortal nature, and 
to be burnt up, figuratively speaking, in the everlasting 
fire of God's wrath. 1 8. Sinfulness being thus un- 
pardonable, and yet the Sentence of Death having been 
removed from the sinful man himself by the great aton- 
ing Sacrifice of God in Flesh, who alone could remove 
that sentence and confer new, immortal Life, a Second 
(sort of) Death is substituted in the place of the old. 
First Death, as the proper divine sentence, under the 
changed circumstances, upon the Sinful Will. This 
Second Death consists in a strict, universal Judgment 
according to Deeds upon all Sinfulness. In other 
words, it is a Judgment which no longer threatens the 
Life of the sinner, nor does it coerce his Will, but one, 
nevertheless, which insists upon the absolute Death of 
his Sinfulness, and is so exacting and rigorous in this 
respect, that for its abolition no prayer avails, 2 and 

1 See § 124 (h). 

2 It would seem, however, from scriptural teaching and examples, 
that though full judgment according to the need is administered 



Duality of Man's Nature 109 



no atoning Sacrifice is of use. Thus, in bringing Life 
and Immortality to light, God in Christ avoids either, 
on the one hand, becoming "a minister of sin," — that 
is, avoids putting the sinful upon a par with the right- 
eous, — or, on the other, coercing man's Sovereignty of 
Will. Rather, the divine justice is subserved; for the 
First Death would have been upon all sinners alike; 
whereas the Second Death is in the most rigorous 
sense according to deeds. Hence, 9. Only Repent- 
ance, affecting the character,^ can mitigate and finally 
do away with the Judgment in its aspect of a curse. 
And because therefore such repentance is man's sole 
resource, and because indeed, in due logical order, the 
First Coming of Christ, by doing away with the old 
Death, brought this new sort of Death upon us, — a 
Death only to be avoided by the Death of one's Sinful- 
ness, — most consistently the cry rang out upon the 
world at that Coming, "Repent ye: for the Kingdom 
of Heaven is at hand." The God in Christ, atoning 

to the sinful, it is modified or changed in form by circumstances, 
and particularly in view of the general need; giving ample scope 
for individual prayer, and for that of others for us. And, of course, 
prayer, which improves the character of the one who prays, has 
its due mitigating effect upon the judgment, causing the Sinfulness 
to become more and more of the atoned-for past, and the judgment 
to be to that extent no longer needed. "For He doth not afflict 
willingly nor grieve the children of men " (Lam. 3 : ^t, and Heb. 12 : 
5-12 and contexts). Thus the vengeance of God alights upon the 
sinner (who is injuring himself and others), in so far as it is needed 
for his own and the general good; making the wrath of God a 
necessary form of a Father's love for His children one and all. 

1 That is, an actual inward change for the better, as distinguished 
from mere sorrow for sin, and from sentiment, emotion, and all 
the external acts of religion, private or public; all which are only 
of service to an individual in so far as they serve to produce the 
inward change; but which become a positive curse, developing the 
hypocrite and the heart of stone, where no inward change for the 
better is effected. 



no The Foundation and the Superstructure 



for the sins of men that are past, ^ immediately becomes 
the God in Christ insisting upon the voluntary abolition 
of all existing Sinfulness. In short, straightway, as 
Eternal Justice requires, — that Justice which is always 
of to-day, — the First Advent is succeeded by the 
Second. For the ineffably holy King of all the earth 
allows nothing to defile His Kingdom with impunity; 
but having died to give a new, holy Life to men, that 
the Purpose of His Holy Sacrifice may be consum- 
mated, and the full benefits thereof attained, He insists 
that a voluntary Repentance shall cause Sinfulness to 
be one of the sins of the past for which His Sacrifice was 
made, and the individual to be thus cleansed from 
all sin, without the least coercion of his GoD-given 
Sovereignty of Will. 

§ 58. Christ's Work of Sacrifice Finished. — 
Accordingly, in respect of present Sinfulness, the great 
Sacrifice of God in Flesh being of no avail to save the 
sinner from that Judgment which the new order of 
things requires, but rather having necessitated for 
Sinfulness its due proportionate judgment, 10. The 
Work of Sacrifice was "finished"; and so, God in 
Flesh leaves the earth altogether, and ascends to 
Heaven, triumphing in His -finished task; and there- 
upon, in order to consummate the Purpose of the 
Sacrifice thus made for all, or to bring about the filling 
up, as St. Paul says, of "that which is behind of the 
afflictions of Christ, " ^ He, in His now glorified Human- 
ity, takes the seat which that Humanity had gained in 
behalf of man restored to Life, even at the right hand 
of power; and a second divine mission results. That 
is to say, 11. It is no more God in Flesh by His 

» Rom. 3: 25; 2 Pet. i: 9. 2 Col. 1: 24. 



Christ's Sacrifice Finished m 



great Sacrifice taking away the sins of the world, and 
renewing its Life for ever; for that Work is done, and 
the Sacrifice was once made for all time. But it is 
now God in Spirit, having no Body of Sacrifice to offer 
in atonement, and in consequence never pardoning the 
sinful. Instead, His task is strictly that of Guidance; 
and will never be done until He shall have guided into 
all truth. Insisting most rigorously upon the per- 
fection of us all, He preserves at the same time the 
sovereignty of our several wills, and puts upon none 
a greater burden of judgment than he is able to bear, 
making no man's holiness a matter of compulsion, and 
allowing for none a new atoning sacrifice. 12. In 
necessary consistency with all this, the further teaching 
of Christianity is, that as Flesh, or in the Body, we 
shall henceforth know Christ no more.^ For, in the 
very nature of things, the God of Sacrifice, whose Work 
is done whether we will or not, must depart, if He who 
only guides is to come. 2 And so, nevermore as Flesh, 
or in the Body, will He be present, — ^not since the ad- 
vent of the Guiding Spirit; and nevermore can there 
be an availing Sacrifice offered for man, even as none 
is needed.^ But in Spirit, by judgments and other 
persuasive influences innumerable,^ He is with us 
* * alway unto the end of the aeon. " ^ 13. From teach- 
ing such as this, the true position in the Christian 
scheme of all External Religion, both public and 

1 2 Cor. 5: 16. 2 John 16: 7-14. 

3 The doctrines of transubstantiation and consubstantiation 
illustrate by contrast the supernatural character of all this con- 
sistent teaching; in that the moment man intermeddles, incongruity- 
results. 

4 For example, blessing voluntary prayer and praise and me- 
morial sacraments and the assembling of ourselves together, etc. 

s Matt. 28: 20. 



112 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



private, becomes evident. In the New Testament, in 
precise consistency with its position in the Old,^ it is 
ever subordinate to perfection of character, and only 
considered useful — otherwise, positively injurious and 
hardening — in so far as through it any reformation of 
character is attained. 2 If rites and ceremonies are 
therefore to be observed, it is only to call to our minds 
and impress upon our hearts the great truths behind 
them. And these are made few and simple, lest the 
symbolism should engage our attention to the injury 
of the truths. In Baptism, for example, is represented 
the soul-stirring thought that we all have together died 
in Christ, and in Him have risen again, cleansed before 
God, and endowed with a new, holy Life which can 
never die. In the Holy Supper we memorialise the 
precious Death which consummated the holy Life of 
Jesus, and gained the new, immortal Life of man. 
And in Confirmation we celebrate the Second Advent 
to us of our God, or that in the Spirit only ; and are 
warned of the Sin which still remains Unpardonable, 
and which must therefore be gotten rid of by ourselves, 
even that of being unsanctified. And we remember 
how we are told that, until we submit to being guided 
by our Holy Sanctifier, His Advent brings to us no 
comfort, but instead, a Second Death, in place of the 
First, or the inevitable Judgment according to Deeds. 

1 I Sam. 15: 22. Ps. 40: 6-8; 50: 4-16; 51: 16, 17; 66: 18; 
109:7. Prov. 15: 8, 29; 21: 3, 27; 28: 9. Ec. 5:1. Is. 1:10-20; 
61: 8;] 66: 1-4. Jer. 6: 19, 20; 7: 1-23; 14: 12. Lam. 2: i, 4, 
6, 7, 17, 20. Ezek. 23: 38, 39. Hos. 6: 6; 8: 11-13. Amos 5: 
18, 21-27. Mic. 3: 9-12; 6: 6-13. Ex. 23: 20, 21, etc. 

2 Matt. 5: 23, 24; 9- 13; 12: 1-12, 31-37; 15: 9- Mk. 12: 28-34. 
John 4: 23, 24; 5: 10-16, 22-30; 9: 31. Acts 3: 26; 8: 13, 
21-24; 10: 34-43; 17: 24-31. Rom. 14: 17, 18. I Cor. 11: 17-34' 
Col. i: 24, 28: 2: 16, 17, 20-23. Heb. 10: 1-31, 38, 39. Jas^ 
4; 3, etc. 



Sovereignty of Will 113 



§ 59. Man's Heaven-conferred Sovereignty of 
Will. — Let us note particularly, indeed, throughout 
this teaching, the careful and consistent regard un- 
varyingly shown for man's Heaven-conferred Sover- 
eignty of Will. We see, in the first place, how the 
divine Re-Creator, as God in Flesh, in taking away 
the mortal guilt of the sinner, did put no coercion upon 
the will, but simply re-created a new, holy, immortal 
Life, as a free Gift to each individual, leaving his 
natural will just as before; and in the second place, as 
God the Spirit, how He continues faithfully to pre- 
serve and guide that will. Hence, 14, the very Un- 
pardonableness of the Sinful Will, seeing that God the 
Spirit came to guide into all truth, and that, while sin- 
ful, a man is in direct opposition to His non-compelling 
efforts, and his imperfect condition a constant sin 
against Him, for which no sacrifice can atone, but which 
rather the Sacrifice of God in Flesh has continued in 
existence, and made unpardonable; — even that very 
Unpardonableness is a Gospel to man; for it is the 
Good News of his unimpaired dignity and of the in- 
violability of his sovereignty; or that in his behalf 
God is unchangeably determined to be the King only 
of kings, and the Lord only of lords, and is ever work- 
ing in behalf of the individual's final glory. And let 
us observe another thing. For all this supernatural 
teaching, so wonderfully consistent in all its parts, is 
revealed to us not merely in strict conformity to the 
teaching of the two apostles above named, but — "here 
a little, and there a little" — through all the sacred 
writers; through, that is to say, in general, unlettered, 
ignorant men, many in number, writing at different 
times, and independently of each other! The very 
scattering of the several truths among them makes 



114 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the wonderful coherency of the truths, when put 
together, the greatest possible demonstration of their 
supernatural origin. And how consistent they all are 
with the facts of the natural world, both without us 
and within, just as we are experiencing them every 
day! To illustrate the harmony of the many sacred 
writers in this teaching throughout the Bible would be 
too large an undertaking. It is sufficient to have 
shown that the two who have been deemed the 
most decidedly contradictory are in such wonderful 
agreement. 

§ 60. St. Peter's Teaching. — But it may be worth 
while to call to remembrance in addition, how St. Peter 
in his First Epistle tells us that God in His abundant 
mercy had ** begotten us again," that is, regenerated 
us, "unto a living hope through the resurrection of 
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupt- 
ible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away";i and 
that the sufferings of Christ which accomplished that 
salvation, and gave us ' 'a good conscience before God, '* 
or our justification, "through the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ," was, in figure, a baptism, and an antitype 2 
to the ark of Noah ; which ark was therefore typical of 
Christ, and of what He Himself calls His baptism,^ and 
which accordingly, with corresponding spiritual signifi- 
cance, had been represented as going down, with the 

» I Pet. i: 3, 4. 

2 The Greek is antitupon, from which our word antitype is 
derived. The idea of the word thus used by St. Peter is that of 
exact correspondence, in the imagery of a baptism, between the 
baptism of the Ark and of our Lord's justifying baptism. The 
derivative significance of the word is the exact impression made 
by a blow upon a receiving substance. 

3 Luke 12: 50. Matt. 20: 22, 23. Mk. 10: 38, 39. 



St Peter's Teaching 115 

eight ^ souls of the new world therein, into the very 
Water of Death that was destroying the old world, and 
as emerging therefrom with the new world saved. 2 
And of the new Life re-begotten in us by Christ through 
His resurrection, or of our Salvation from Death, the 
apostle further tells us, that we have been redeemed, 
not with corruptible things, but with the precious 
Blood of Christ, the matter being foreknown from 
before the foundation of the world; or that we had 

» The number typical of new Life. 

2 I Pet. 3: 18-4: I. The passage tells how Christ "suffered 
for sins once, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to 
God"; and how He went and told the good news unto the im- 
prisoned spirits, who had been disobedient in Noah's day, while 
the ark, typical of the Redeemer, was being prepared. The 
passage then continues as follows: "Wherein few, that is, eight 
souls, were saved right through water (which is here typical of 
Death). And that which is an antitype (i. e., Christ in His baptism 
of suffering) now saves you, a baptism; (^O kol v/udg- avTirv-jrov 
vOv <rw^ct /SdnTLO-jua ; for the Ark in saving souls by baptism 
in the flood was typical of Christ's baptism of blood); not a 
putting away (in immediate destruction, even by Christ, and 
of course not by literal water in baptism, of our carnal nature, 
or) of filth of flesh, but a matter (or, question) of a good conscience 
before God through (the effectual justification demonstrated in) 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ." In what follows the apostle 
proclaims the ascension, the session at the right hand of power, 
and the sufferings of the judgment upon the quick and dead alike, 
and its similar purpose, and also the graduated intensity of the 
judgment (from its beginning "from the house of God") to those 
who do not obey the gospel of God. How different this is from 
the ordinary teaching of men! but how entirely in harmony with 
the Christian scheme as gathered from all the sacred writers! For 
so many think, we get to heaven quickly, or not at all. 

In translating above "And that which," I assume the accent 
placed over ^'O to be correct. If, however, we write O, just as in 
Codex A, etc., and add the aspirate, making it ""O (these old unciaj 
MSS. being without aspirates or accents,) the translation becomes, 
with no accents, "And He that is an antitype," etc. Either way, 
the sense is the same, although, of the two translations, clearer 
without the accent. The Greek dative of the relative pronoun 



ii6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



been ''begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of 
incorruptible, through the word of a living and abiding 
God " ; ^ and that now it was for us ' 'as newborn babes " 
to put all evil from us, and to long for the reasonable, 
unadulterated milk, that we may grow thereby unto 
salvation ; 2 and that being built upon our Lord as upon 
a Living Stone, we are all, as living stones,^ built up 
into a spiritual house; and are "a holy priesthood, to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices (of praise 4) acceptable to 
God through Jesus Christ" ; ^ while the disobedient are 
forcibly reminded that the Rock of Salvation upon 

translated in the a. v. is not supported by the best authority; but 
with it the rendering should have been by the a. v., "An antitype 
whereunto now saves you, a baptism," etc. The Greek word anti- 
tupon is also an adjective; and if so rendered here, the passage be- 
comes, "And that which is an antitypical baptism now saves you. " 
This does not change the sense, nor the ''O, and is the neatest 
translation of all, and probably the most correct. In what fol- 
lows "filth's flesh," as is the literal, corresponds with "sin's flesh" 
in Rom. 8:3, denoting the natural man, or child of wrath; thus 
making St. Peter's primary idea to be, that the baptism of Jesus into 
Death and His resurrection therefrom now save us, not by putting 
away or destroying our old man, but by begetting our justified 
new man, who is to do the destroying. 

» I Pet. 1 : 18-23. C)^> "through a Word that liveth, and a God 
that abideth" ; which is strictly literal, and perhaps a more forcible 
enunciation, in form, of the basis of our immortality. 

2 I Pet. 2: I, 2. 

3 The metaphor indicates Life out of Death. In using the meta- 
phor St. Peter is obviously referring to our Lord's previous use of 
it to denote that He was to recover mankind out of Hades. We 
are reminded also how Moses tells "the congregation" of the Rock 
of Salvation, styling it "the Rock that begat thee." Deut. 32: 4, 
13, 15, 18, 30, 31, 39, 40. 

4 I Pet. 2: 9. 

5 I Pet. 2:4, 5, 9. "Acceptable," because based upon the right- 
eousness of Christ, making us "as free . . . servants of God " (verse 16). 
Observe: not actually free, nor faithful servants; but ''as free" 
and "a5 servants of God " ; as is the careful language of inspiration 
from the pen of a common fisherman. 



St. Peters Teaching 117 



which they have been built in Immortal Life has surely 
brought upon them the Judgment according to their 
deeds; the apostle styling it in their case "a Stone of 
Stumbling, and a Rock of Offence." ^ Indeed, in 
plain terms, the apostle proclaims both the judgment 
and its object to apply also to the life beyond the 
grave, saying, ''For for this cause was the gospel 
preached also to the dead, that they might be judged 
indeed like men in flesh, but live like God in spirit. " 2 

§ 61. St. Peter's Teaching (Cont.). — How care- 
fully in all this, and how repeatedly, St. Peter repre- 
sents, as did his fellow apostles, our new birth, or ' 'being 
born again, " to be only of God's begetting through the 
resurrection, therein asserting the perfection of the 
Work of Christ; while he manifests our own position 
in the matter by his downright designation of us as 
newborn babes; and immediately insists, that we must 
grow mto holiness as our own bounden duty, and that 
we may "glorify God in a day^ of visitation"; thus 
seeking to escape from the constant judgment visited 
upon all imperfection. For the apostle not only 
teaches our regeneration to be effected, when utterly 
helpless, through Christ, and the consequent obligation 
which rests upon us, but he repeatedly associates 
therewith the Work of the second visitation, or of the 
"sanctification of the Spirit."^ Nay, in the very 
first sermon that was preached after the great pen- 
tecostal outpouring, he expressly declared, with em- 

» I Pet. 2:8. 2iPet. 4:5, 6. 

3 Not "the day" (i Pet. 2: 12). The passage refers to the 
great truth that every sin, even "an idle word,!* has "a day of 
judgment. " 

4 I Pet. i: 2, II, 22, and generally the passages relating to 
judgment. 



ii8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



phasis, that that outpouring, according to prophecy, 
was ''upon all fleshy " and had been shed forth from the 
right hand of God after the exaltation thereto of the 
Lord Jesus. ^ And in his Second Epistle, obviously 
referring to our dual birth, through Christ and the 
Spirit, St. Peter announces that our Lord's "Divine 
Power hath given us all things that pertain unto Life 
and Godliness," or hath given us both Life and the 
Spirit. And he urges us, in addition, not to forget 
that we have been purged from our old sins, but to make 
our calling and election sure ; warning us that he him- 
self had seen as an eye-witness the power and coming 
of the Lord Jesus Christ in majesty, at the transfigura- 
tion, 2 — in other words, His Second Advent as the 
Judge of all the earth ;3 while from the sure word of 
prophecy, made more sure by his personal vision, he 
cites examples to illustrate the certainty of the con- 
stant judgment upon men according to their deeds; or 
that the judgment is very far from being delayed unto 
another life, but cometh quickly, even here and now, 
without lingering or slumbering; yea, ''in their destroy- 
ing surely" being "destroyed; suffering wrong as the 
hire of wrongdoing." ^ And St. Peter himself is care- 
ful to declare the consistency of his own teaching with 
that of St. Paul; although, he says, men wrest the 
words of the latter, as they do the other scriptures, 



» Acts 2: 16, 17, 33. 2 2 Pet. 1:3, 9, 10, 16. 

3 See Matt. 16:27, 28. Attended by the law and the prophets, — 
^'the word that I have spoken," which shall judge us in this last 
day; — so was He seen of St. Peter, See 2 Pet. 2:3. 

* 2 Pet. 2 : I, 3, 17, etc. The true idea of 2 : 9 (to which 2 : 4 and 
3: 7 correspond, when properly translated, telling of present judg- 
ment) is, "to keep the unrighteous during (not, unto) a day of 
judgment to be punished" — j. ^., punished "for a judgment of a 
great day" (Jude 6). See §§ 10, 82, and 82(a). 



Agreement of Writers 119 



unto their own destruction.* The truth of this finds 
illustration in allegations of Pauline and Petrine doc- 
trinal contentions, 2 (in spite of St. Peter's express 
statement of the harmony of views between him and 
his "beloved brother Paul,") as well as in the general 
inability of readers to recognise the exact consonance 
of the utterances of St. James with those of St. Paul; 
owing in both cases to the gross misconstructions which 
have been put upon the latter's words in particular, and 
also upon those of the other two writers. 

§ 62. Supernatural Agreement of New Testa- 
ment Writers. — For special reasons there should be 
given one more example of the wonderful accord of the 
several sacred authors in the deep, supernatural teach- 
ing of the Christian scheme. Like the apostles Peter 
and James, St. John also was an humble, ordinary 
fisherman; and if we may judge by his frequent crudi- 
ties of expression, and his occasional awkwardness — 
shall I say puerility? — of style, was, in an intellectual 
point of view, although so highly spiritual, the least 
gifted of the unlettered three. And yet, in everything 
that he says, we recognise how perfectly in line he is 
with the deep and wondrous revelations received by 
him from our Divine Master, and with the profound 
reasonings of St. Paul. And in everything there is the 
same correspondence with the Christian scheme as 
above set forth. Indeed, it is from his writings, crude 
and often self-contradictory as they appear, that are 
to be gathered some of the plainest of the consistent 

1 2 Pet. 3: 15, 16. 

2 St. Paul's difference with St. Peter in Gal. 2 ch. was avowedly 
not about doctrine, but of practices which he feared would tend 
to the compromise of doctrine. 



I20 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



enunciations of deep Christian truth. In language 
which should have prevented the prevalence of false 
ideas, and most often in the very words of the Master, 
he declares Jesus to be the Life of the world, through 
whom alone men are divinely born, or given a new 
Life, even when unwilling to receive Him for a Saviour ; ^ 
that His lifting up did draw all men unto Him, and 
save the world ; 2 that without this Sacrifice of His 
Flesh and Blood men could not have Life; but that 
with it we have everlasting Life, and shall be raised 
up at last;^ and that when His Sacrifice was made, 
and His Work was done, it then became the proper 
thing for Him to go away, and leave the earth altogether 
in His Body which had been offered in Sacrifice; for 
the reason that no Sacrifice of that Body would any 
more be necessary. The one Sacrifice having done all 
for sinners which could be done by sacrifice, and the 
work of free cleansing being accomplished, the Sacrifice, 
the apostle tells us, must cease and be removed, in 
order that the Spirit who guides, instead of pardoning 
or atoning, may come.^ 

§ 63. Unlettered Disciples Taught by Inspiring 
Spirit. — In accordance with this profound teaching, 
given us from the lips of the Master by His unlettered 
disciple, who must, indeed, have had all things brought 
to his recollection by the inspiring Spirit, — a teaching, 
in fact, so utterly out of the ordinary run of men's 
thoughts, that most Christians do not even yet seem to 
have arrived at its meaning,^ — in the apostle's First 

1 John 1: 4, 9. 11-13. 29, 33; 6: 33, 39, 50-58; 5: 23. i John 2: 
2, 29, etc, 

2 John 12: 32, 33; 3: 14, 17. 

3 John 6: 32-63. * John 16: 7-16. 

5 How quickly would alleged priestly sacrifices of the Body of 



Disciples Taught by Spirit 121 



Epistle he tells first **of the Word of Life, " even as he 
tells first in his Gospel of the Word of God who is the 
Life of men; and then he proceeds to tell of the uni- 
versality of sin, and proclaims, ''that we have passed 
from Death into Life, "^ or from Darkness into Light, 
through Jesus Christ the Righteous, whose Blood 
cleanseth us from all sin ; 2 — in other words, that the 
great work of begetting new Life in men had been 
wrought out solely by His righteous Life and atoning 
Death. And the apostle does not leave the free recep- 
tion by all of the new Life to inference, even as he had 
not done in his Gospel; but declares "Jesus Christ the 
Righteous" to be "a Propitiation for our sins; (adding, 
lest his pronoun should be taken in a limited sense,) 
and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. " ^ 
And in addition to thus showing how "God hath sent 
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might 
live through Him, " ^ he proclaims that we have received 
also the Spirit; the need for man to be born of which 
he had recorded in his Gospel from the lips of the 
Master; and that the annointing of the Holy One 
which we have thus received abideth in us for our 
guidance ; and that we have the proof in the righteous- 
ness within us, and are therefore sons of God ; although 
"the world," he says, — an expression which is large 
enough to include ourselves and all men, and would 
seem to designate "the old man" of St. Paul, — does 
not know that which is thus of the holy God.^ It can 



Christ cease, if they had! — yea, and some other "churchly" notions 
also! 

» I John 3: 14. 21 John i: 5-10. 

3 I John 2:1,2. * I John 4 : 9. 

5 I John 2: 3-5, 20, 21, 27, 29; 3:1,2,6-10,14,19,24; 4*7.8. 
13, 16; 5: 10, II. 



122 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



hardly designate exclusively those who are unbelievers 
in the Christian religion. For, in point of fact, un- 
believers undoubtedly show themselves by the good 
that is in them, and are declared in the Bible, to be 
the sons of God ; and they often also recognise the fact ; 
as in the case of the Greek poet of whom St. Paul 
speaks.^ For, certainly, the same logic applies to 
them as to Christians. And so St. John says, *'If ye 
know that He is righteous, ye know that also every one 
that doeth the righteousness has been begotten of 
Him. "2 But of course, with unbelievers, as with us, 
**the old man" of the heart, not having, like its oppo- 
nent the new man, the inward proof, and having no 
capacity for recognising externally that which is of 
God, does not know, even as St. John says, the Son 
of God, but in every case dares to keep up blindly his 
bitter struggle for the mastery over the will, until he 
meets his final death. ^ 



§ 64. Agreement of John with Jesus. — ^As to 
the world" then, or the old man within us all, St. 
John teaches, that just as all goodness is of God, and 
manifests the doer to be born of Him, or that He had 
given him Life for Death, so, the evil deeds of a man 
manifest him to be a child of the devil. Hence, while 
the sacred writer proclaims all mankind, notwithstand- 
ing their wickedness, to be equal sharers in the pro- 



( < 



1 Acts 17: 28. 

2 I John 2 : 29. See 3 : 24; 4: 13. etc. "The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. " Rom. 8:16. 
" Hereby know we that we abide in Him, and He in us, because 
He hath given us of His spirit." i John 4: 13. 

3 "And the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth 
in the Darkness; and the Darkness hath not taken it in." John 
1:4, 5. See 3:19. I Cor. 2 : 14. 



John and Jesus 123 



pitiation made by Him who came to die for all sinners, 
and to have received the anointing of the Spirit, yet 
is he just as explicit in declaring them, because of that 
wickedness, to be children of the devil. ^ In this teach- 
ing the disciple follows the Master; our Lord having 
Himself called the devil the father of lying, and the 
Jews the children of the devil, even while He admitted 
them to be children of Abraham, and recognised all 
men to be children of God. 2 ' ' For the tree is known by 
its fruit*' ; and even if the dual nature of mankind had 
not been thus authoritatively revealed, the fact and 
its universality should be of common knowledge. For 
our daily experience confirms St. John in showing all 
men to be sinners, and that if any deny it in respect of 
themselves, they are self-deceived, and the truth is not in 
them.3 And yet, on the other hand, because love is 
of God, when we love one another, to use St. John's own 
words, "we know that we have passed from Death into 
Life, (or, are *bom again,' even) because we love the 
brethren." Most reasonably, therefore, the inspired 
apostle proclaims, that, not merely the converted, not 
merely the baptised, but '^ every one that loveth is born 
of God J and knoweth God."* When accordingly we 
read in the apostle's writings, and in his statements of 
our Lord's words, the expression ' *the world, " it would 
be well to look within ourselves, as well as to the world 
without. Do we wonder, so looking, that *'the old 
man," or *'the world" within us, cannot receive the 
Comforter, before whose terrible judgments it has such 
reason to tremble ? ^ Or that our Saviour, who desired 



» I John 3: 6-10. 2 John 8: 37-44. 56. ^ i John i: 8, 10. 
* I John 4: 7, 8; 3: 14. It follows, that every one that loveth 
is born of Water and the Spirit. 

s John 14: 17; 16: 8. Heb. 10: 26-31. 



124 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



of all things the old man's destruction, refused to 
pray for "the world," although, in the ordinary sense, 
it was "the world " which He came not to condemn, but 
to save.i Instead, He prayed only for them which had 
been given Him ; 2 even for the new, holy sons of God 
about to be begotten through Him.^ 

§65. John, and the Unpardonable Sin. — ^And 
this brings us to one more point in this ordinary fish- 
erman's most extraordinary, supernatural adherence to 
the Christian scheme, however profound its details. "* 
I refer to his many allusions to the Unpardonable Sin — 
the Sin unto Death — for which, following the Master, 
he would not bid us pray. In giving our Saviour's 
prayer above referred to, distinguishing between "the 
world" and those who were His own, the apostle thus 
records what Jesus declared of His representative 
disciples, and tells how He afterwards extended His 
prayer to those who were to believe in Him through their 
word. 5 Jesus said, "I have given them thy word; 
and the world hath hated them,^ because they are not 
of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray 
not that thou shouldest take them away (or, lift them) 
from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them 
from the evil (one).^ They are not of the world, even 
as I am not of the world. ^ Sanctify them through 

1 John 3: 17. 2 John 12: 31, 32. 

3 John 3:3,5, Eph. 1 : 5, 10. i Pet. i : 3, 23. Jas. i : 18. 

* Are, in general, "the wise" equal to it even nowadays? 
5 John 17: 20. 

* " It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. " Rom. 
7: 17. See context as to the war between the flesh and the spirit. 

' Lit. "the evil." Does the article refer back to "the world," 
and should it be translated "that"? 

8 This repetition, and the continual dwelling upon "the world," 



John, and the Unpardonable Sin 125 

(or, by)^ thy truth: thy word is truth." 2 That is to 
say, in compHance with the divine will, Jesus in His 
human nature will not pray of course for the world 
within us; nor again that coercive power from on High 
shall determine the exaltation of His people, or even 
their divorce from the old man within, through the 
latter *s compulsory destruction. This had been in 
substance the devil's wily appeal to the merciful heart 
of the Redeemer in His human nature on the mountain 
of temptation; and, if listened to, would have given 
Him indeed the kingdoms of the world, but a very 
miserable glory of them ; ^ even the mockery of a king- 
dom of slavish machines. But in the place of this 
enforced sanctification, the will of the true Father of 
sovereign children is, to allow them to fight their own 
battle with "the world," whether the world within or 
the world without, and to have all the glory of their 
victory; and to that end only to become sanctified 
through the instrumentality of God's word of truth, 
even, that is to say, through their own faith in that 
word."* They must not be coercively taken from the 

would seem to imply a special signification in the phrase to which 
attention would be called — "that evil one." 

» It is the instrumental sense of the Greek preposition which is 
intended; as shown also by verse 20; "the word" and "the truth'* 
having here the same meaning. 

2 John 17: 14-17. 

3 Matt. 4: 8-10. 

4 The guiding resources of the Spirit must of course not be ig- 
nored. For "it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the 
Spirit is the truth. '' i John 5:6. "Ye are of God, little children, 
and have overcome them : because greater is He that is in you, than 
he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak 
they from that world, and the world heareth them. We are of 
God : he that knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth 
us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." 
I John 4: 4-6. See John 8: 32. 



126 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

world, but must themselves cast out the world, fighting 
the old man within, even to his death. 

§ 66. The Purpose op Judgment. — ^To the same 
effect St. John records Him to have said, let us re- 
member, after declaring the purpose of *'all judgment" 
to be, "that all (men) may honour the Son, even as 
they honour the Father," as follows: "I can of mine 
own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judg- 
ment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the 
will of Him that hath sent me. " ^ And this, once more, 
is the very gist of the statement of Jesus, as told by St. 
John, that He Himself in the Body must depart, in 
order that the One who is the unpardoning Reprover of 
sin, even the Holy Spirit, may assume His office in 
guiding men heavenward; 2 or that, sacrifice having 
done all it properly could without interfering with the 
divinely bestowed free-will of man, thenceforth man's 
divine sovereignty must be carefully guarded ; and that 
accordingly it becomes man's honourable privilege to 
conquer the warring child of the devil within him; 
thus making the existence of any Sinfulness of the 
sovereign will unpardonable, and leaving to the Divine 
Judge the exercise of unavoidable Judgment according 
to the facts, or as He hears. As it is said in the Epistle 
to the Hebrews to the same effect, "For if we sin of 
free-will," now that we have a re-created Life which 
knows the truth, ^ "there remaineth no more sacrifice 
for sins, but a certain (or, some) fearful reception of 
Judgment, even a fierceness of fire, which shall devour 
the adversaries"; i. e. shall devour, instead of pardon, 
the children of the devil."* The sins that have developed, 

1 John 5: 22, 23, 30. 2 John 16: 7-13. 

s I John 5: 19, 20; 2 : 20, 21, 27:3: 24; John i : 14, 16, 17. 

* Heb. 10 : 26, 27. The Greek " some, " or "a certain amount of," 



The Unpardonable Sin 127 



and are past, are as the fruit of a corrupt tree, even 
what the evil heart has brought forth ; ^ and are as the 
heavy burden borne for us by the Son of man. To 
extend the cleansing benefits of sacrifice, however, to 
present Sinfulness, could not be without infringing 
upon the sovereignty of the will ; and therefore for the 
evil heart itself, for the corrupt tree, there must be no 
sacrifice, but judgment; or the substituted coming of 
the Reprover for the Sacrificer; even the Second 
Advent, with all the rigorous justice of the holy God, 
extending even to an idle word. 2 

§ 67. The Church and the Unpardonable Sin. — 
Another allusion by our Lord to the Unpardonable 
Sin, which St. John records, is interesting as showing 
the exclusively persttasive character of the instrument- 
alities of the organised Church in the eye of its great 
Founder. For Jesus plainly tells us that, on the one 



indicates no unlimited judgment, but one proportioned to the 
case. It is not, it may be added, certain in the sense of sure, al- 
though, of course, the judgment is sure. 

1 These, let us not forget, are the expressions used by our Lord 
Himself in explaining the distinction between the sins against the 
Son of man and the sin against the Holy Ghost. The heart that 
could blaspheme what Jesus was doing by the Spirit of God as 
being done by Beelzebub, must be judged ; for it cannot be pardoned. 
But the actual words uttered are pardonable, and are expressly said 
to be spoken against the Son of man (Matt. 12 :3 1-37) . If what has 
been done were not pardonable, man would be helpless. But the cor- 
rupt tree that keeps producing evil fruit requires judgment. What 
a simple matter this, which " the wise," for all the long centuries, 
have not been able to explain! When understood, we find, as 
usual, "the simplicity that is in Christ"; but we recognise, none 
the less, how profound and supernatural are these repeated and 
always consistent utterances of Holy Writ, so many in number, 
and given to us by such men as publicans and fishermen! 

2 Matt. 12: 24, 27, 28, 2>^, 37. 



128 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

hand, there is gladly ratified in Heaven ^ whatever 
success men may have in persuading one another to get 
rid of their Sinfulness, and that, on the other, the same 
ratification will be rigidly given to their failure. "Of 
whomsoever ye may loose (or, get rid of) ^ their ^ sins, 
they are loosed (or, gotten rid of) unto them; and of 
whomsoever ye may retain (them), they are retained.^ 
These words were uttered by our Lord when He sent 
forth His disciples to their great persuasive work; 
and to assist them therein they received from Him a 
special gift of the Holy Spirit, — that is to say, of that 
same Spirit who comes to guide us into all truth. In 
fact, it is particularly noticeable in what an entirely 
subordinate position St. John, the apostle nearest to 
our Lord, places, in all his writings, the rites and 
ceremonies of external religion. For that matter, not 
once is even Christian Baptism, or the Lord's Supper, 
or Confirmation mentioned by this apostle; although 
men in the materialistic spirit of ecclesiasticism have 
endeavoured to bend from their proper meaning the 
parabolic words which he records, telling of the neces- 
sity of the new birth, and of the Sacrifice of the Flesh 
and Blood of the Redeemer for the world's Life. The 
apostle seems, indeed, to be so thoroughly engrossed 
with the weightier matters of Mercy and Judgment and 
Faith, — ^that is, in holding forth to men the Gospel of 
their Salvation from Death, and in warning them of 
the consequences in that prolonged Second Death 

i Luke 15: 10, witli context. 

2 The derivative meaning is send away or get rid of. It is trans- 
lated suffer in Matt. 3: 15; 19: 14; 23: 13 (14). Mk. i: 34; 
5: 19, 37; 7: 12; 10: 14; 11: 16, etc.; also to leave, let, let alone, 
etc., in many passages; and remit or forgive in others. But the 
idea here is to get freed from. 

3 Lit. the. 4 John 20: 22, 23. 



Persuasive Powers of Church 129 



which awaits all Sinfulness, — that he utterly ignores 
the rites and ceremonies of the organic Church, how- 
ever useful and indispensable they may be for their 
proper purpose. 

§ 68. The Persuasive Powers of the Church. — 
Still, in John 20: 22, 23, just above quoted, St. John 
emphasises from our Lord's lips the importance to 
men of the persuasive powers of the Church. Alas, 
that the craving spirit of ecclesiasticism, pursuing its 
wonted tendencies as exhibited the world over through 
all history, and in all forms of religion, should have 
dared to abuse to its purposes this and other similar, 
most awful passages; and, as though utterly failing to 
tremble at the solemn responsibilities therein imposed 
upon every individual in respect of his brother's soul, 
should be chiefly zealous to derive from the passages 
some extraordinary, supernatural powers to be exer- 
cised by the few over their fellows, which might gratify 
human pride, or further human ambition. That how- 
ever it was not the intention of the Divine Speaker to 
make of these words of fearfiil warning in any respect 
an exclusive ministerial commission, or a grant of 
exclusive official power, but that they were spoken to 
us all, through the apostles as our common representa- 
tives, although, in the connection, intended to stimulate 
on this particular occasion the ministry more especially 
to a zealous discharge of their sacred office, is made 
evident by their universal application in the eighteenth 
chapter of St. Matthew. For therein Jesus, pursuing 
the great subject of which He had been speaking, to 
wit, the duty of each individual to do all that he can to 
seek out and to save that which is perishing no matter 
how humble it may be, particularly includinp- in his 



130 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



efforts the spiritual welfare of little children, goes on 
to bid any member of any "congregation," who 
has an offending brother, — His more immediate re- 
ference being naturally to the synagogues of His 
day, and to His Jewish disciples as members of one 
or other of those synagogues, 1 — first to use his in- 
dividual powers of persuasion to induce the erring 
brother to repent, speaking to him alone, or pri- 
vately. If success attends the private effort, it is 
well; as it is said, "Thou hast gained thy brother." 
But if not, then the Master bids, "Be a little more 
open in thy efforts. Seek the aid of others; but, 
in the beginning, only one or two more''' ; thus ad- 
ding the influence of others to thine own; — as it is 
said, that "every word may be established," or gain 
force. ''If the second attempt, however, also prove 
a failure," Jesus continues, "give up the secret 
and semi-secret methods altogether, and try pub- 
licity. Tell it to the congregation. Bring everybody 
now you can to your aid." For who has not ex- 
perienced the wonderful power and influence of num- 
bers? And to this power and influence Jesus also 
joins a promise. "I say unto you, that if two of 
you shall agree on earth as touching anything that 
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father 
who is in Heaven. For where two or three are 

1 The Greek sunagoge (synagogue) literally means "a gathering 
together, " and therefore corresponds in signification with the 
Greek ekklesia twice used in Matt. i8: 17, which also means "a 
congregation. " That it so means in that passage, or has its 
proper sense, is obvious from the context, and because there is no 
reason why it should suddenly change its sense from the exclusive 
one which it always previously had. Matt. 16: 18 and 18: 17 are 
the first times in all history that the translation "church" was 
prematurely forced upon the word. It was much later when it 
acquired that meaning. 



Individual and Congregation 131 



gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
midst of them." ^ 

§69. Efforts with Individual and Congrega- 
tion. — Observe particularly in all this how our efforts 
are directed to move on to an exhaustive climax of 
numbers. The individual is commanded first to use 
his own powers with the offending brother in a private 
manner, or to go to him ''alone." Then to try **one 
or two more." And then the whole congregation. 
What an anti-climax we should make of it, if, in the 
face of what is expressly said, or of our own arbitrary 
will, we should interpret: First, alone; then, one or 
two more; and then, these methods failing, go back 
to one again — a, priest! And after that, the interpre- 
tation is, or without resorting to the public method 
at all, that there is no more to be done ! For the priest 

» Nothing better demonstrates the folly of those who do not 
regularly attend the public services of the Church, on the fallacious 
ground that they can as well serve God at home. In addition to 
their actual disobedience, instead of "serving God," they deprive 
themselves both of the great power and influence of numbers and 
of the unfailing promise of Jesus. They cannot afford thus to 
rely on their own unaided efforts. At best, we do not serve God 
as we ought; and why should we disregard the aid which God Him- 
self affords to those who will voluntarily seek therefor? Is it not 
braving greater judgment and a longer hell? Hear again from the 
inspired text: "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love 
and good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves to- 
gether, as the custom of some is, but exhorting (one another); 
and so much the more, as ye see the day (i.e., of triumph) drawing 
nigh." That is, instead of relying on our own unaided efforts 
because we are becoming better men, let us speed the day of tri- 
umph, by redoubling the seeking of mutual aid, the more we feel 
the exhilarating approach of that day; — as St. Peter says, "looking 
for and speeding the coming of the day of God," even to "each 
man in his own order." Heb. lo; 24, 25. 2 Pet. 3: 12. i Cor, 
15: 23. 



132 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



— one man — ^makes, it is said, our Lord*s congregation 
or so-called church, — His ''assembly" or "gathering 
together ! ' * And yet His explanatory phrase is , * ' where 
two or three are gathered together"; and even this il- 
lustrates really but the preliminary or semi-private 
method, before the final resort to the congregation. 
And it is for this last public and open appeal that 
ecclesiasticism would substitute but one man ! And 
that one man, moreover, in the strictest privacy, or 
again " alone" ! Nay, not even this; for observe: Our 
Lord directs the offended to do the telling to the 
congregation, and thereby openly expose the offender. 
Not so ecclesiasticism; which says nothing at all of 
the offended ; declaring instead, that the offender it is 
— the very one who would not listen when expostu- 
lated with alone, or, thereafter, by the one or two 
more — who shall now voluntarily, though still per- 
verse, proceed to do the telling! — not, however, to the 
congregation, according to the words of the command, 
but to some priest of his own selection ! What an anti- 
climax! did I say? In truth, what a farce! And the 
farce is made of the words of the Lord Himself ! The 
offended, in the face of the Master's words, is to cease 
his efforts to save his brother; and thereupon the per- 
verse brother, who persists in his offending, is to take 
the matter up, and, substituting a secret confabulation 
"with his selected priest, get off from being regarded 
*'as an heathen man and a publican. "^ Verily, as 
against our Lord Himself, what is it that ecclesiasticism 
will not dare? what, as against common sense, that it 
ivill not assume and assert to gain its ends? Quite 
different from this, the idea of our Lord is, to urge, and 
keep urging, each individual soul into personal, re- 
i Or, more strictly, "as the Gentile and the publican. " 



Individual and Congregation 133 

sponsible action to save a perishing brother ; first incit- 
ing him to assume the responsibility alone, as good 
policy would dictate, then to stir up one or two more, 
and at last the whole congregation, — even the congrega- 
tion of which himself and the offending *' brother'* 
are members. And Jesus Himself, let me repeat, 
expressly explains His meaning ; telling us, at the same 
time, and in immediate connection, of the power of 
numbers, when they act together, in humble dependence 
upon Heaven, to accomplish a definite purpose; and 
of His aiding presence with them. And it is because 
thereof that He would stimulate the private soul, the 
individual, to constant holy endeavour, or never to 
give up while there is hope. And of priests, or of 
**the Church" as an official, authoritative body, (or 
otherwise than of a separate congregation thereof,) 
or of any ** representative" of the Church, He says 
nothing at all. And here note, how well St. Peter, to 
whom similar words to those presently to be quoted 
had been spoken, and who now heard them again ad- 
dressed to all, understood the matter, and the constancy 
of effort required of all. Earnestly he inquires, **Lord, 
how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive 
him? till seven times?" And note also the unabated 
persistency of effort implied in the Master's answer; 
and how binding it is upon every one, whether apostle, 
bishop, presbyter, or layman: — ''Jesus saith unto him, 
I say not unto thee. Until seven times; but, Until 
seventy times seven." And He followed up His 
answer by a parable, wherein He reveals to us that the 
unforgiving shall never escape from the prison of 
judgment, or from *'the tormentors, " until what is due 
to our heavenly Father shall be fully paid; in other 
words, that we shall not be delivered from evil, but 



134 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



shall only be forgiven, just as we forgive, until our 
perfection shall be like that of the Father Himself.^ 
And thus we perceive once more, how, both unto the 
human, would-be absolver, and him whom he vainly 
strives authoritatively to absolve, the unpardonable 
sin still remains, while existing, wholly unpardonable; 
and that with both the one and the other the only 
effectual absolution lies in the attainment of perfection 
— even in the final death of ''the old man'* or **the 
evil one'* within; thus causing the individual to cease 
altogether to be "the child of the devil," and to be 
wholly and alone *'the child of God." 

§70. ''Binding and Loosing," Spoken to Con- 
OREGATiON. — 'Some, indeed, not perceiving how suicidal 
or destructive of their own position, their argument re- 
specting binding and loosing through human instrumen- 
tality would be, strive to gain a point by assuming 
what is not true, to wit, that on the occasion only 
apostles were present, and that to these only, and no 
others, the words about binding and loosing were 
addressed. This downright assumption is, however, 
as we shall see, in the face of the facts. But if even it 
were true, what would follow? Verily, that inspired 
apostles only, and Peter among them, are commanded 
to "tell it imto the congregation!" and that, too, by 
way of climax, even as a final and conclusive appeal! 
That is, on the assumption of ecclesiasticism, whatever 
the supernatural authority and power it would claim 
to be conveyed by the words in question would be 
vested supremely in no single official, however high, 
but in the local congregation — ^yea, whether over the 
ministry, or even over the inspired apostles themselves, 

i Matt. 5: 26, 48; 6: 12, 13; 18: 21-35. 



"Binding and Loosing" 135 

including Peter; who would all be positively, and, by 
the assumption, exclusively commanded to do the 
telling unto the congregation. If therefore the assump- 
tion were true, it would be of itself the death-blow to 
priestly absolution, and to all the claims of ecclesias- 
ticism based upon the words of our Lord ; just as it is 
also the death-blow to those claims to have the assump- 
tion false, and the words to be addressed to all alike 
as enjoying a common responsibility. Indeed, it only 
makes a more conclusive showing forth of the base- 
lessness of priestly absolution, that the claims should 
be overthrown equally as well, whether the words are 
assumed to be addressed to apostles only, or whether 
we recognise in them a plain address to every one 
without exception. But though the uselessness of 
the assumption to effect its object is manifest, and 
is rather of service as strongly exhibiting the logical 
helplessness and the recklessness and blindness of 
ecclesiasticism, it demands further consideration. For 
by what right do men thus venturesomely make mere 
assumptions to prove their preposterous supernatural 
claims? Here is a discourse which throughout shows 
that it is intended for all ; and it is universally admitted 
to be so as to the greater portion. For surely it will 
not be claimed by any one, and least of all by ecclesias- 
ticism, that only the ministry need to be converted, 
and become as little children ; or that they only are 
required to be mindful of others, and to exercise a 
constant spirit of forgiveness to offenders, as well as of 
forbearance to helpless debtors. Whence, then, the 
assumed prerogative of severing one portion of the 
discourse from the rest as applicable only to priests, 
who are not once mentioned therein; while the rest, 
and far the larger portion, is confessed to be for all? 



136 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



And yet the private and personal, instead of any offi- 
cial application of the passage made by St. Peter, with 
the answer of our Lord that forgiveness is to be granted 
"till seventy times seven," is admitted by these 
arbitrary assumers themselves to show a universal 
obligation! Surely conclusions should be drawn on 
some better basis than that of our own sweet will. A 
forcible illustration of the possession by every one of 
the power of binding and loosing, yea, of the power 
of the keys, is the condemnation uttered by our Lord 
to the scribes and Pharisees for their abuse of just this 
very power. He says: "Woe unto you, scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kindgom 
of heaven against men: for ye go not in yourselves, 
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in" 
(Matt. 23: 13). Surely, if even the scribes and Phar- 
isees were recognised by our Lord Himself as having 
this fearful power, we can hardly deny its possession 
to any one. 

§71. "Binding and Loosing" not Spoken to 
Priests and Bishops. — For the matter of that, in 
reference to this lugging in of the unmentioned priests 
to become the sole claimants of the power of binding 
and loosing, it may be as well to mention, that at the 
time when the words recorded by St. Matthew were 
uttered, there were no priests of the Christian Church, 
and no bishops,^ to hear and exclusively appropriate 

» Even the apostles themselves, prior to receiving their com- 
mission after the resurrection, when only the Gospel could be truly- 
preached, or after Jesus had gained the victory over Death, to- 
gether with all power in heaven and on earth, were in general 
styled simply "disciples," just the same as other believers. On 
the very rare occasions that they are termed "apostles," it seems 
to be only to distinguish them from other believers. On the par- 



** Binding and Loosing " 137 

the arbitrarily selected portion. For the ministry 
had not been commissioned, because the Work of 
Christ was still unaccomplished, and the Gospel could 
not be preached. It was then only at hand. And 
furthermore, in point of fact, there were others pres- 
ent, besides the twelve, to hear the whole discourse. ^ 
For Jesus is said, as usual, to be speaking to the 
disciples ; and of these, we know, there was a consider- 
able company, and among them those who "compan- 
ied'* with the twelve ''all the time that the Lord Jesus 

tictilar occasion when the words about binding and loosing were 
used, as told of in Matt. i8, the word employed both in chap- 
ter and context is always "disciples" — never apostles; and, as 
remarked in the text, there were other disciples present, even, it 
would appear, women and children; of which last Jesus called one 
to Him as an object lesson, to illustrate His remarks against aspiring 
to power over others, and showing on the contrary, that we ought 
rather to feel our responsibility to the weak and helpless, and to 
realise that we may have to account for binding, where we should 
have loosed. In fine, we should take care to recognise the con- 
tinuity of thought running through the whole chapter, instead of 
arbitrarily severing one part from another, to suit our own purposes. 
» There is one thing which, if the reader will take the trouble, 
he can easily verify for himself, and which should be again and 
again impressed upon his mind, to wit, that almost everything 
said to apostles, or to an apostle, by our Lord, is of universal 
application. That is, the disciples received their instructions in 
trust for the world, to which, in due time, the truths were to be 
proclaimed, according as the world should be able to receive them. 
See, for an example, Luke 12: i, etc.; and for an exception, em- 
phasising the rule, 41, etc. Even the application in this passage 
of stewardship to the future ministry, however, admits of a like 
universal application to those who have special gifts of any sort; 
and in all likelihood no one ever reads the passage without per- 
ceiving its application to himself. Furthermore, there is never 
indicated by our Lord that anything said by Him pertained to 
an exclusive clerical function which was to be handed down to 
successors. The ministry as we have it is the inspired work of 
the apostles after the descent of the Holy Ghost. From these 
considerations it follows, that a heavy burden of proof rests upon 



138 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



went in and out among" them. ^ On this occasion 
the audience probably included also, as we know was 
usual, a number of women, especially as He was at the 
time entertained at a house, and there was present at 
least one ** little child." To such a mixed audience, 
then, the discourse was given ; and its language through- 
out was general to them all ; and no one may presume of 
his own arbitrary will, after allowing the greater portion 
to be for everybody, to call out at discretion one portion 
to be exclusively for the unmentioned priests, who, 
with their bishops, had not yet been even created. 

§72. Responsibility to Others. — In fact, the 
whole is a connected discourse, whose purpose was 
to put down self-seeking, and to arouse in its place a 
regard for and constant effort in behalf of others. 
It originated in a customary struggle among the dis- 
ciples to be "the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" — 
that is, really, in that earthly kingdom which the dis- 
ciples were supposing to be at hand. And to infuse 
into them an opposite spirit, Jesus opens with an object 
lesson of a little child, whose humility they must copy, 
and were not even to one of these to give offence, under 
a penalty worse than that of being drowned with a 
millstone about the neck in the depth of the sea. 
In similar strong language He proceeds to point out 
still further the dangerous responsibility incurred by 

one, who asserts anything said by our Lord to the apostles, (in- 
dependently of their exclusive creation and special mission as 
apostles, the which of course would pertain only to apostles, and to 
no others), denotes an exclusive ministerial function to be shared 
by them only with a subsequently created ministry. In general, or 
where not expressly confined to apostles, whatever is said to them 
is said to all, 

*Acts i: 15, 21. John 6: 66. Luke 10: i. 



** Binding and Loosing " 139 



the man who would lord it over and bind offences 
upon his fellows; telling him that it is better to go 
halting into a higher and yet higher life, than with his 
offending members intact to have to be purged of his 
tmsacrificing spirit in the unceasing fires of the Gehenna 
of God's wrath ; in this referring to the flames and smoke 
then rising as from a furnace in the valley of that name, 
by means of which the city Jerusalem was continually 
being purged of its filth, which was cast therein. There- 
fore, He says, despise not any one of the little ones of 
God ; but take heed to them, like as the Son of man was 
then come to save that which was lost; assuring us — 
what so many will not believe even from His lips — that 
it is not our Heavenly Father's will that one little one 
should perish. And He illustrates the self-sacrificing 
urgency required of us in behalf of the perishing, by 
the parable of the eager search in the mountains for the 
sheep that was lost, — a search which involved the 
encountering of all manner of obstacles and hardships, 
— ^rather than to be content to enjoy rest and peace by 
staying at home with those who go not astray. He 
then introduces the passage which we have been con- 
sidering, carrying our responsibility for the spiritual 
welfare of others to the extreme case where the perish- 
ing brother's offences are directly against ourselves. 

§ 73. "Binding and Loosing" Imposed upon all. 
— And what tremendous emphasis the Lord of all, who 
gives Himself as an example to, and who sacrificed 
Himself for all, puts upon what we thus do for others ! 
"Verily I say unto you. What things soever ye shall 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and what things 
soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. " 
No wonder when such responsibility to others is so 



I40 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



solemnly assured to be ours, and such a climax of 
repeated effort enjoined, — alone, one or two more, 
the congregation, — that the question is asked by St. 
Peter in amazement as to how many times a man is 
under obligation to renew these varied efforts. And 
how consistent the answer! ''I say not unto thee. 
Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." 
In other words, there is to be no end of effort, as often 
as good sense tells of hope, and that we do not harden. 
But now, observe, along with this perseverance, and 
this responsibility in the matter of binding and loosing 
imposed by the Lord Jesus upon us all, the abrupt 
change of address from the singular to the plural, 
because of the application of His words to the efforts 
of more than one, or to combined efforts. He no 
longer uses thou, and thy, and thee, as before; but, ye, 
or you; and immediately thereupon proceeds to tell of 
the power and influence of numbers. For Jesus had 
just said, "Tell it unto the congregation''; and, "If he 
will not hear the congregation.'' And Jesus meant 
always what He said. And so, changing to the plural, 
as this final appeal to the congregation made proper, 
as did also the universal application to clergy and 
laity alike, expressly including the apostles and others 
present, or to combinations of effort on the part of men 
for all time. His language is, "What things soever ye 
shall bind"; and, "What things soever ye shall loose." 
And we further hear, "If two of you shall agree as to 
what they shall ask, it shall be done for them" ; and how 
two or three, gathered together, shall receive their behests. 
It belongs exclusively to ecclesiasticism, in the face 
of all this, out of a single man to make what our Lord 
has expressly designated as "the congregation"; and. 
such fatuity let us suffer the devotees of priestly absolu- 



Binding and Loosing" 141 



tion and of ecclesiasticism exclusively to make their 
own. But nevertheless, because Jesus meant "the 
congregation," therefore it was that He said it, and 
that He did not say, "the representative of the congre- 
gation, " or, "a priest. " And because He so said. He at 
once changed from the singular to the plural form of 
address, and thereafter went on to talk about the 
importance of numbers when gathered together for 
good. From every point of view this sorry attempt 
of ecclesiasticism to exalt the priest, whom Jesus had 
not once mentioned, becomes manifest as made with 
reckless disregard of the facts of the case ; whereas, in 
truth, in many ways, we are carefully guarded from 
having our eyes shut to the awful responsibility for 
others which rests upon us all. 

§74. ''Binding and Loosing" an Individual 
Responsibility. — ^And with the same care it is further 
pointed out that the measure of that responsibility 
is not merely in what we do. For as there is a time 
for all things, so there is a time when we should cease 
to do. For after trying every way to save a perishing 
brother which is open to trial, — the extremely secret, 
that which is partly secret, and at last that which is 
public, — and all in vain, what more can be done? If 
the climax of effort has been fully reached, and the 
''seventy times seven" efforts exhausted, to continue 
the process would only vex, harass, and harden. And 
there is no other plan to be tried. To keep doing the 
same things, which have proved themselves vain, 
would be simply throwing pearls before swine. It is a 
case w^here *' Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone. " ^ 
This is the sound policy of common sense. To tease 

» Hos. 4: 17. 



142 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the erring brother with useless effort, would make 
thee, and also the one or two more, and the congrega- 
tion as well, responsible for the hardening caused there- 
by. Treat him, therefore, says the wise Master, as if 
he were no longer of the congregation. Leave him to 
his own reflections. "Let him be to thee as the Gentile 
(or outsider) and the publican " ; or as the infidel, or the 
indifferent, or the wilful, selfish injurer of God's people^ 
or the ordinary, perverse sinner. That is, conduct 
thyself toward him just as thou dost to those who are 
unbelievers, or are utterly regardless of duty.^ But 

1 As there were no Christian congregations at the time when 
our Lord was speaking, the immediate reference, as mentioned 
in the text, was to the particular Jewish synagogue to which one 
was attached. The unfortunate translations, "Tell it unto the 
church," and, "If he will not hear the church," have given rise 
to much abuse of God's holy word on the part of those who are 
either not attentive scholars, or are positively dishonest. As be- 
fore stated, this is the second occasion in all Greek literature when 
the word translated "church " in this passage was ever so rendered; 
the first occasion being that of Matt. i6: i8 (the second chapter 
back). The normal and, until these texts were improperly trans- 
lated, the invariable meaning of the Greek word, as constantly 
used by author after author, was simply a congregation, assembly, 
gathering, or body of people for whatever purpose they might be 
brought together; as in Acts 19: 32, 39, 41. And here the imme- 
diate reference is as before stated. As in the case of our modern 
phrase "going to meeting," the Greek word also acquired among 
Christians the additional signification of "church" from habitual 
application by them to their several religious gatherings after these 
had become a custom, or not until after the descent of the Holy 
Ghost. But our Lord's idea on the two occasions of the use of 
the word in St. Matthew's Gospel was simply "the congregation. " 
After private and semi-private means have failed, we are to resort 
to public. "Tell it out openly in meeting" — "Tell it to the con- 
gregation"] — that is, to the particular gathering, or assembly, or 
synagogue, where both thyself and the erring brother are accus- 
tomed to meet together. The climax is obvious: First, alone; 
then, "one or two more"; and finally, "the congregation." The 
application of the passage in our day is of course to bring to one's 



'* Binding and Loosing" 143 



mark thee: If thou hadst succeeded, thy success in 
persuading thy brother to the right would have been 
ratified most gladly of Heaven ; and there also now thy 
failure is ratified. "Verily, " is the strong affirmation, 
** Verily whatsoever ye here bind is there boimd; and 
whatsoever ye here loose is there loosed." For such 
is the mutual, inevitable responsibility for one another 
impending over us all ; and thus insistent is the will of 
the consistent God upon only persuasive measures 
being used by Him or us. If there be then an imto- 
ward result, it must needs be followed by ratification — 
never, never by coercive interposition from Heaven! 
Do we realise the awful, utter unpardonableness of the 
sin against the Holy Ghost, and how nearly and im- 
mediately it concerns ourselves? How well, indeed, 
St. Peter understood the universal, personal application 
of the words of Jesus ! That is to say, how well those 
words were understood by the very one of the twelve 
to whom such words had been specially addressed but 
shortly before ; or upon that most appropriate occasion 
when it was indicated by the gift of the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven, that to him should belong the 
honour of opening up the great spiritual activities of 
the Christian Church; or that he should become the 



aid at last, if possible, in behalf of an offending brother, all the 
congregation to which one is attached. It will therefore be plainly- 
seen, that there is no reference whatever to the Church at large, 
and no authority given it by the passage in matters of doctrine. 
When accordingly men would foist into the passage what is so 
utterly foreign thereto, it must be through lack of comprehension 
of what the passage is about, or from dishonesty, or carelessness, 
or blind partisanship. But herein, as usual, ecclesiasticism em- 
ploys itself in the destruction, first, of individual responsibility 
with its holy sovereignty, and next, of the integrity and super- 
natural consistency of the Christian scheme. 



144 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



first preacher of the Gospel to men.^ But do we then 
also realise, as St. Peter did, our own individual re- 
sponsibility in the matter of binding and loosing, and 
that to throw it all upon priests would be verily a part 
of the Unpardonable Sin, especially as we all have been 
gifted with the guiding Spirit? 

§ 75. Consistency of Bible on Individual Sover- 
eignty. — ^And do we realise, moreover, in these con- 
stantly varied modes of statement respecting individual 
sovereignty and the tmpardonableness of its abuse, how 
supematurally consistent the Bible is throughout? 
How profoimd, and reasonable, and conformable to 
our highest ideas of God, is the above passage of St. 
Matthew the publican! and yet how little has it been 
understood by the wisest of men; and how much 
abused! (a) Of the same supernatural character, we 
have seen, are the deep and diversified utterances on 
these subjects of the unlettered, unpretentious fisher- 
man St. John ; and that, too, amid apparent contradic- 
tions; as will presently be illustrated. In particular, 
in what he says also, we may not escape the conclusion, 
that every one is made his brother's keeper; and that 
the briefer words of his Gospel as to binding and loosing 
have as enlarged a meaning as these have in the Gospel 
of St. Matthew; although, in the former case, really 
spoken only to the representative apostles. 2 The 
solemn admonitions of St. Matthew's eighteenth 
chapter consistently close with the parable, brought 

iThe gift, however, was more likely to Peter as representing 
the common responsibility. 

2 And therefore not distinctively to bishops or priests. As to 
the general application of St. John's words, see i John 5: 15, 16, 
and also the next section. 



Individual Sovereignty 145 



out by St. Peter's question, of the unforgiving creditor, 
wherein is set forth the peril to oneself, or not merely 
to a perishing brother, of neglecting his welfare. And 
observe in this consistent ending, that in the parable 
the only effective absolution cannot possibly be from 
a priest as such, but only from him who has been of- 
fended. It is the creditor who must bind or loose his 
debtor; and who therefore suffers the penalty for 
binding instead of loosing. In short, our Lord through- 
out inculcates a responsibility from which none can 
escape, and which is neither to be exclusively assumed 
by nor shifted upon ecclesiastical officials. But to 
think that these should venture to claim an increased 
share, nay, the whole of so alarming a burden, and that 
they should not rather prefer to make the world alive 
to its common pressure! Alas, they do but enlarge 
their own responsibility, without diminishing one whit 
that of the laity. Of what value, pray, is absolution, 
which does not absolve? And mark in another point of 
view the harmony of our Lord's concluding words with 
what went before. For at the beginning of the dis- 
course, the attention had been directed to the danger 
of binding offences upon others. * ' Woe unto the world 
because of offences ! . . . but woe to that man by 
whom the offence cometh!" He thus pointed out at 
the start, that in the binding both the bound and the 
binder would suffer. And, we remember. He went on 
to declare how terrible would be the judgment of the 
binder in particular in the Gehenna of God's wrath. 
And now, at the close of the discourse, comes a like 
terrible warning for him who refuses to loose his 
fellows when bound. The judgment upon him also 
would be, to be delivered to the tormentors for his due 
purgation ; and accordingly, not for ever. That would 



146 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



not be true justice, to inflict infinite punishment for 
finite sin ; but until he shall have got rid of every whit 
of his Unpardonable Sin, and shall have learned to do 
his whole duty to God. Verily, it is the judgment 
upon us all. 

§ 76. John's Epistles and the Unpardonable 
Sin. — ^With the repeated and diversified allusions to the 
Unpardonable Sin in St. John's Gospel, as heretofore 
exemplified, it is quite natural that he should have 
something to say about so important a matter also in 
his general epistle. And it is a little noticeable with 
what peculiar simplicity he seems therein to speak ; as 
if he were aware that what he said was in seeming 
contradiction to his previous statements; yet making 
no attempt at explanation or reconciliation. His 
manner almost tempts the inquiry as to whether the 
apostle was not writing under the governing influence 
of consistent inspiration without himself having lucid 
ideas in regard to that of which he wrote; just as did 
the elder prophets when the Spirit through them 
** testified beforehand the sufferings in relation to 
Christ, and the glories subsequent thereto. " ^ Or the 
better idea may be, that the apostle himself fully 
imderstood the matter, but that it is the will of the 
guiding Spirit to stimulate on the part of the reader 
the character-forming exercise of care and diligence and 
industry in comparing scripture with scripture under a 
weighty sense of individual responsibility, especially 
in a case where, confessedly, the eyes of ''the wise and 
prudent ' ' are blinded . Or it may be merely the crudity 
of the sacred writer's style. At all events, whatever 
the reason or reasons, thus he writes: *'If one see his 

1 I Pet. 1 : 10-12. 



Sin, Death, and Deliverance 147 



brother sinning a sin not unto Death (i. e., the act of 
sin, which was Christ's burden for us, as distinguished 
from the sinful state ^), he shall ask for, and shall tender 
to him Life, for them that sin not unto Death. 2 There 
is a Sin unto Death : ^ I do not say that he (who inter- 
cedes for another) shall pray for this (unpardonable 
sin) . All unrighteousness is sin : and there is a sin not 
unto Death (and which, therefore, may be forgiven). 
We know (the apostle proceeds, with supreme confi- 
dence in the new, holy, regenerated Life within us all) 
that every one that has been begotten of God sinneth 
not; but he that has been begotten of God keepeth 
himself, and that* evil one (or, thing, to wit, Sin, or 
Death) toucheth him not. We know that we are of 
God (in our new man) , and the whole world (including 
therefore ourselves, or the old man within us all) lieth 
prostrate in that evil one; being guilty of the Un- 
pardonable Sin, or the sin unto Death (i John 5 : 16-19). 

§ 77. John's Teaching on Sin, Death, and 
Deliverance. — ^Thus then, most consistently, through- 
out his writings, St. John, the humble fisherman, repre- 

> Let us remember that the sinful act, when of the past, or re- 
pented of, could be atoned for without interfering with the freedom 
of the will ; but not so the state of sin, which is of the present. 

2 The idea seems to be both to pray for and plead with the of- 
fending brother, as in Matt. i8. The Greek verb normally- 
means "give," but sometimes "tender" or "offer," which is more 
appropriate here. 

3 Even the corruption of the heart, or "the old man" predestined 
unto Death, which old man must be consumed in the fires of the 
Second Death, and to that end is the Spirit's special care, who 
vouchsafes to him. no pardon. For "the old man" there is no 
tender of Life. 

4 Lit. "the {i. e., that) evil," referring to Death, just before 
mentioned, or Sin, or the evil one. See § 124 (6) ^[4. 



148 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



sents all unrighteousness to be sin, ^ and all who sin 
to be children of the devil, and under the judgment of 
Death; but that ''the Blood of Jesus Christ" the 
Righteous "cleanseth us from all sin," begetting in 
us a new, holy Life, wherein we become the children 
of God; and that, receiving this Life, we have passed 
from the Death of Sin into the Life of Righteousness, 2 
and are untouched by the mortal stain of the sins of 
''the old man";^ which old man, however, for our 
sovereignty's sake, is still suffered to remain within us 
and prolong our childhood to the devil ; but is, never- 
theless, under the law of Sin and Death, awaiting at 
our hands the due execution of the law.* Seeing then, 
that in respect of this sinful old man we remain children 
of the devil, the apostle takes care to warn us in various 
ways that the Sin of this existence is unpardonable, 
and of its inevitable and unceasing Judgment. And so 
he tells us, that there is still within us a Sin which 
is unto Death, — a Death which is designated in his 
book of the Revelation from its prolonged nature as 
another sort of Death, or as the Second Death. ^ From 
this Death, he teaches, that each individual can only 
be delivered by the Final Destruction of "the old 
man" within him; for that while the old man con- 
tinues to live, there can be no cessation of the aeonic 
fires of the ever-just God. He speaks accordingly of 
the Sin unto Death as a Sin for which he will not say 
that we should even pray; that is, for its forgiveness, 

1 I John 5: 17; i: 7. 

2 John 5: 24. I John 2: 8-11, 17, 29; 3: 14. See i Pet. 2; 24. 
Rom. 5: 12; 6: 2, 11; 7: 6. i Cor. 7:31. 2 Cor. 5: 17. 

3 John 8: 34-36. See Rom. 8: 2; § 124 (b). 

4 I John 2: 17. I Cor. 15: 50-54. 2 Cor. 5: 4. 

5 Rev. 2: 11; 20: 6, 14; 21 : 8. And see Jude 5, 12. 2 Pet. 2: 19-22. 
Luke 9: 60, etc. 



Sin, Death, and Deliverance 149 



or to avert its due judgment. Rather, the proper 
prayer is for its extermination, just as our Lord has 
taught — ''Deliver us from the evil one." In other 
words, the sinful heart throughout its existence is un- 
pardonable, and, in view of man's sovereignty, will 
continue to call for the Second sort of Death even 
that prolonged Death from which we are now suffering, 
or for the Judgment according to deeds, both to satisfy 
the justice of God, and to stimulate the individual to 
the glorious task set before each one of becoming 
altogether the child of God. Hence, until this task 
is completed, we perpetuate our childhood to the devil, 
and continue in that aeonic fire prepared for the devil 
and his angels. From life to life, therefore, — that is, 
from aeon to ^on, — to the evil one the Holy Spirit 
is no comforter, but a consuming fire ; a fire so exactly 
proportioned to the deeds of each person, that it never 
becomes coercive; burning the more fiercely wherever 
the independence of the will is not easily constrained 
or overcome; or for the stubborn, the mocking, the 
idle, and the indifferent ; and also where a strong faith, 
with like freedom of will, may welcome, and take com- 
fort in, and be developed by its consuming power; 
neither class receiving a greater burden than it is able 
to bear.i Accordingly, throughout all history, it is 
the best and the worst who suffer most; therein illus- 
trating most forcibly the merciful purpose and remedial 
character of all suffering, or, to use our Saviour's 
phraseology, of "all judgment, "2 and how utterly 
foreign God's vengeance is to that of men, and with 

1 John 5: 22-30; 14: 15-18, 26, 27; 16: 7-11, 20-22. See Ps. 
125:3. I Cor. 10:12, 13. 2 Pet. 2:9, 10. Jer. 29:11. Matt. 20: 
22. Ec. 7: 15-20. 

2 John 5 : 22, 23. 



150 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



what care He refrains from disturbing His gift of 
sovereignty to them. And conformably to this method 
of divine justice, in St. John's writings there is comfort 
only for men when, and according as, they keep ad- 
vancing unto perfection. Of these he says: ''We have 
boldness toward God; and whatsoever we ask we re- 
ceive of Him, because we keep His commandments, 
and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.** 
Thus the apostle would keep us in mind, that only as 
our love is made perfect are we entitled to have bold- 
ness, and to cast out all fear, seeing that sufferings in 
this world are a necessary part of our day of judgment.^ 

§ 78. The Eternal Harmony of Spiritual Truth. 
— If the several statements of St. John's First Epistle 
were taken separately, or out of their spiritual relations 
to each other, how exceedingly contradictory they 
would appear! 2 But when compared with the eternal 

^ I John 3: 21, 22; 4: 17, 18. 

2 Thus : All men are sinners, and every sinner a child of the devil. 
« — We are children of God, and the child of God cannot sin. — The 
blood of the Righteous One cleanseth from all sin. — There is a sin 
unto Death. — etc. In view of the atonement for acts of sin, abol- 
ishing the Death which impended over all men, while Sinfulness 
still remains unpardonable, we can readily understand St. John 
when he speaks of sins which are not unto Death, and again of the 
one Sin unto Death. But since the scriptures have plainly de- 
clared the wages of all sin to be Death, and, in respect of that pen- 
alty, he that offends in one point to be in the same condition as 
if he were guilty of all (Jas. i: 15; 2: 9- 11), but because of re- 
demption, that there is now but one Sin unto Death, to wit, Sin- 
fulness, the artificial distinction made by ecclesiasticism between 
mortal and venial sins is without scriptural authority, even as it 
is wholly unreasonable. In the eye of the holy God sin is intol- 
erable, and all sin is mortal sin, whether little or great — as St. 
James puts it, whether only respect of persons, or adultery, or 
murder. See § 124 (h). 



Harmony of Spiritual Truth 151 



harmonies of spiritual truth, how aptly do they com- 
bine and fit in therewith! It is, among other things, 
the supernatural concord of the many sacred writers, 
even while expressing themselves in such varied and 
complicated ways that they often seem to contradict 
both themselves and one another, which demonstrates 
how "God hath chosen the weak things of the world" 
to be His spokesmen thereto; or in order to give us 
proof that their profound words of mutual harmony, 
so far above those of the wise of the earth, which in- 
cessantly contradict one another, are so much the 
more plainly above their own natural measure; thus 
leaving men without excuse for refusing to believe in 
the genuineness of His holy truth. ^ Our examination 
has shown that in the sacred writings there is always 
the one system; to wit, Universal Sin and Death, with 
Universal Redemption from Death and Justification 
unto Life through the Righteousness of the Christ; 
the free Gift of the Spirit unto all men because of the 
same Righteousness ; the great fact, therefore, that we 
are horn of Christ and the Spirit, and are the sons 
of God; even the like insistence that we have full proof 
of the fact in the good that is in every one ; and the same 
asseverations that the scheme of Grace was predesigned 
of God from before the foundation of the world, or, 
as St. John commences his epistle, was "that which 

1 I Cor. 1 : 26-31. This proof becomes all the stronger the more 
we find errors in the sacred writers respecting mere earthly things, 
about which they were not inspired, but left to manifest their own 
natural weakness. The same remark applies to the grossness of 
some of the writers of very ancient times. The revealed spiritual 
truth is all right, let the individual writer display the weakness of 
his own natural character as he will. And the more he makes 
the display, the more he demonstrates his supernatural position 
in respect of the deep things of God, which were so far beyond his 
natural powers or condition. 



152 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



was from the beginning." And moreover, notwith- 
standing all these revelations, joyously made, of 
the great Gifts of Grace, we have similar formidable 
declarations in the several epistles and gospels, and 
in the Apocalypse and the Acts, and even in the Old 
Testament, concerning the Unpardonable Sin; the 
which, therefore (even as St. John writes), still calls 
for a Death, although a Second sort of Death, in sub- 
stitution for the First from which we have been deliv- 
ered ; that is to say, for a prolonged living woe, ending 
in a final Destruction of the evil in each man; or, 
as eternal justice and our sovereignty conjointly 
demand, for a continual Judgment according to the 
deeds which evidence our state; a Judgment, accord- 
ingly, which becomes correlated with the condition 
of the individual, and which, because inevitable upon 
unpardonable sin, will be certainly continued so long 
as the sufferer shall be guilty of that seonic sin, or 
until his Salvation from Sinfulness becomes certainly 
effected. And lastly, the sacred teachers of Chris- 
tianity all alike show also that, after the latter Salva- 
tion is gained, then the Salvation from Woe, or the 
third in logical order, immediately ensues; yea, '*in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump ";^ the trump of the great battle between the 
old man and the new, which sounds forth the latter's 
victory. **For the Lord will not cast off for ever. 
For though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion 
according to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth 
not afflict w^illingly, nor grieve the children of men." 2 

"For the creation hath been subjected to vanity (im- 
prisoned in the travails of nature) , not of its own will, but 

» I Cor. 15:52. Rev. 2:11. 2 Lam. 3:31-33. 



Advent of Holy Spirit 153 



through (the power of) the One who hath subjected, — in 
hope ; 1 because the creation itself also shall be delivered 
from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God. For we know that the whole 
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
now. "2 

In all these multiplied revelations, therefore, when 
rightly interpreted, with what supernatural concord do 
the inspired writers confirm one another! And how 
quickly do they bristle with irreconcilable contra- 
dictions, the moment the false interpreter essays to do 
his wresting! 

§ 79. Christ's Departure and Advent of Holy 
Spirit. — Moreover, along with all this wonderful ex- 
hibition of superhuman coherency in the general 
system of the sacred writings, there are to be found 
scattered about therein, in a desultory, disconnected, 
and seemingly haphazard manner, many complicating 
details, having, however, a vital connection with 
the integrity of the system, and absolutely necessary 
to its completeness, and at the same time throwing new 
revealing light thereupon; and yet, hidden away, just 
as God in the natural world hides away the beautiful 
jewels, to stimulate the industry and enterprise of men. 
Such a detail was the declaration of our Lord that 
with His Body of Sacrifice ^ He must ascend to Heaven ; 
thus removing utterly from earth all atoning Flesh 
and Blood, in order that the Holy Spirit may come; 

1 And the hope of God has no end but in fruition. 

2 Rom. 8: 20-22. 

3 Now transfigured, and made altogether spiritual. Phil. 3:20, 
21. I Cor. 15: 43, 48, 49. Col. 3:4- I John 3: 2. Rom. 8: 29. 
2 Cor. 3: 18. Rev. i: 13-18. 



154 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the Person of the Trinity who brings no pardon in His 
sanctifying work, but can only be propitiated by the 
perfect deeds of men.^ How does such an incidental 
utterance as this, which so perfectly accords with the 
general system, and which no human, unassisted brain 
would have been apt to incorporate therein, or see the 
essential character thereof, — nay, of which it hardly 
sees the special meaning when brought into the system 
by the hand of inspiration, — possess a value in confirma- 
tion of that inspiration from its very unobtrusi veness ! 
And yet, on careful attention, we find it to be intro- 
duced with marked emphasis as an indispensable 
part of the Gospel of Grace. 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for 
you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter 
(or, Helper — Greek, Paraclete) will not come unto you; 
but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He 
is come, He will convict the world in respect of sin, and 
in respect of righteousness, and in respect of judgment." 2 

And let us particularly note, in connection with the 
necessity of the Divine Speaker's departure from the 
earth, how He proceeds to declare, among the reasons 
for what the Holy Spirit will do in consequence of that 
departure, why it is that He will convict the world in 
respect of righteousness. The reasons are (verse 10), 
" Because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more." ^ 

1 John 16: 5-14. 

2 John 16: 7, 8. Verse 11 tells us, that the judgment, instead 
of being postponed, is now taking place; just as previously de- 
clared by our Lord in 3 : 18 and 12 : 31. 

3 St. Paul, we remember, repeats the declaration of the Master: 
"Yea, though we have known Christ as Flesh, yet now we know 
(Him so) no more." Or, avoiding the "Him so" (not in the 
original), the translation would be, "And though we have known, 



Advent of Holy Spirit 155 



That is to say, in taking from the world His own 
Righteousness, and also His Body of Sacrifice, after 
these shall have completed their proper work, the 
sinner in respect of his Sinfulness will not have them 
for a defence as against the Second Death. On the 
contrary, he will be fully convicted of his unrighteous- 
ness by the unpardoning Spirit, and will not see in 
Jesus a Substitute to avert the Spirit's judgment. Nay, 
for the very purpose ^ of taking from the world, thus 
convicted, any visible dependence upon His Righteous- 
ness and Sacrifice, Jesus in His Humanity goes to the 
Father, who had sent His Son to give Life to the world, 
but not any immunity in its Sinfulness ; and so, as it is 
said, the world sees Him no more. Still, though the 
sinner be thus left to his righteous judgment, he is 
assured, nevertheless, of its merciful intent; for he is 
told, that notwithstanding Jesus, as Man, goes away, 
He verily goes to the common Father of all. And 
He goes, it is expressly said, in order that in due time 
He may return to receive to Himself those who at His 
Coming shall be ready. And the sinner is further 
assured that if, until he too is ready, he is convicted 
in respect of judgment, it is ''the prince of this world," 
or "the old man" within him, who "is judged." 
And so, the parting words of Jesus are: "A little while, 
and ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, and ye 
shall see me, because I go to the Father." 2 

yet now we know Christ as Flesh no more.'.' 2 Cor. 5: 16. See 
John 17: 11; T4: 19. 

1 Among others. 

2 John 16: 16. And see, generally, the 14th to the 17th chap- 
ters inclusive. The r. v. omits in verse 16 "because I go to the 
Father. " The clause is, however, in MSS. A., etc., and is retained 
by Griesbach, and is given in verses 10, 17, and 28, and as a cause 
of rejoicing to us in 14: 28. The use in the Greek of two verbs, 



156 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§ 80. The Incarnation Completed by Ascension. 
— ^Thus do our Lord's statements as to the necessity 
and purpose of His departure in the Body, or, to 
speak somewhat more fully, of His departure in His 
Humanity, from the earth, give additional reasons 
for the necessity of His ascension. 1 And those state- 
ments at the same time are a rebuke to all who, virtually 
denying that He has thus departed from the earth 
and ascended to heaven, persistently affirm, contrary 
to the statements, that He is continually present with 
us here on earth in the Body in the Holy Eucharist! 2 
And this they do in the face of the careful declaration, 
first of our Lord, that the bread and wine of the 
Holy Supper are "for a memento'' of Him, or, as is 
the necessary implication, are not Himself in Person? 
and next of His apostle, in further explanation, that 
they are intended to ''proclaim (as is the literal transla- 
tion) the Lord's Death till He come." ^ Surely, if 
they simply proclaim what He has done, or, again, 
are *'a memento" of Him, they cannot be Himself, but 
are strictly the ''memento"; and if the proclamation 
is to continue as often as they take the sacrament 
"till He come" finally. He cannot already be there. 
In short, it is a purely representative act that we 
are commanded to perform, in entire consistency with 



one for the earthly and the other for the heavenly vision, is note- 
worthy. It occurs also repeatedly, though not in other passages 
with the same careful distinction. See them distinguished in the 
r. V. as behold and see. 

» Other reasons being, that in heaven He might appear in the 
presence of God for us, and be our Intercessor at the right hand of 
power. Heb. 9: 24; 7: 25. Rom. 8: 34. 

2 Our Lord is indeed ever present with us, but no more in Flesh. 
2 Cor. 5: 16. 

3 I Cor. 11: 24-26. 



Incarnation Completed by Ascension 157 



our Lord's departure from the earth and ascension 
into heaven. By a tender, grateful ceremony in 
memory of what the departed Jesus has done for us, 
He would touch our hearts, and stir us up also to deeds 
of sacrifice and love; and He would have us keep up 
this memorial celebration all the while that He is 
sitting at the right hand of God, awaiting 1 the time 
when each one of us in his due order shall become 
thoroughly subject to His will; and then at last, or 
to the perfected individual, and not before. He will 
come. In the fact of the ascension, therefore, there 
is an obvious demonstration of the idolatry of those 
who, weakly yielding to the normal tendencies of the 
flesh, or of our grosser natures, and ever demanding 
for their worship objects of sense, would, pantheist- 
like, and Proteus-like, confound matter — even the 
bread and wine of which we ourselves are the manu- 
facturers, and whose application to sacred uses is also 
from time to time the act of human hands — ^with the 
Flesh and Blood of Jesus, whose natural Body has 
long since been changed into the spiritual, and is, we 
are solemnly assured, not from henceforth a dweller 
in an earthly temple made with hands, 2 but awaits 
us, sitting at the right hand of God in glory. Whether, 
verily, men choose to recognise the fact or not, the 



1 Awaiting or waiting is the proper translation of the Greek 
word used in Heb. lo : 13. The word implies in the passage a wait- 
ing for that which is to be done by another from whom the waiter 
expects to receive. Jesus waits from henceforth, sitting at the 
right hand of God, "till His enemies be made His footstool"; or 
unreservedly obedient to His will. But if, in His Manhood, He 
waits there, how can that Manhood possibly be heref See how 
inconsistent, in text after text the Bible would be made, if the 
unrevealed assumptions of ecclesiasticism are to govern. 

2 Heb. 9: 24. 



158 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



incomprehensible incarnation of the Son of God is 
abundantly revealed to us as having fully accomplished 
its object upon earth; and that, accordingly, it no 
longer there sojourns; nor any more partakes of the 
natural; and that ** though we have known Christ 
as flesh, yet now we know (Him so) no more."^ The 
omnipresent Son of God, indeed, will be with every one 
of His redeemed alway to the end; but His glorified 
Humanity is in heaven, completing for us the great 
purposes of the incarnation. 

§ 81 . Isolated Details Show Supernatural Con- 
sistency. — It illustrates the special importance of the 
apparently isolated jewels of truth which have been 
scattered here and there in the book of inspiration, 
and are evidently intended to emphasise and call forth 
our more diligent and painstaking study of the word 
of God, and which often show the folly of the would- 
be authority of men, that even by such seemingly 
incidental details, when brought into comparison 
and juxtaposition, and in their due relations with 
kindred revelations, we not only gain a fuller and 
more precise apprehension of the intent and meaning 
of revealed truth, but also rid our minds of what have 
seemed to be troublesome contradictions therein, and 
rid the Christian system at the same time of the 
absurdities and grossness which ecclesiasticism has 
foisted thereupon. In further illustration, we may 
perhaps learn to correct our theories respecting the all- 
important Second Coming of the Son of man, by 
bringing together a few of the details upon that subject 
which are widely scattered in the sacred book, and 

» 2 Cor. 5: 16. Or, "though we have known, yet now we know 
Christ as flesh no more. " 



The Day of Judgment 159 



are so isolated, that we have not fully realised their 
mutually illuminating power. Indeed, it is only by 
carefully, and industriously, and earnestly "comparing 
spiritual things with spiritual, "^ as we are bidden to 
do, that we may divest ourselves of long-established, 
gangrenous prejudices, and discover at length what 
is really the truth, beneath the mass of rubbish and 
overlying, rank vegetation which have insensibly 
accumulated thereupon, according to the law of the 
natural world, during the lapse of the ages. For 
by doing this, at all events, without regard to the 
contrary assumptions which have emanated from the 
so-called authority of men, we are taught as follows: 

§ 82. The Day of Judgment. — ^That, unlike the 
old heavens and earth, which emblematically brought 
Death upon the world in the flood, we have the present 
course of nature, or ''the heavens and the earth which 
are now," kept in store, or '* treasured up, for fire (the 
fire of the judgment according to deeds), being kept 
for a day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly 
men"; 2 and that this is done by the God of untiring 
patience, with whom a thousand years are as one day, 
because He "is longsuffering to us- ward, ^ not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance"; and that accordingly each individual 
who is not yet brought to perfect repentance, or every 
man upon earth, should "account the longsuffering 
of our Lord (to be ensuring his) salvation"; and with 

» I Cor. 2: 13. 

2 The translation is strictly literal, and according to the strict 
sense of the Greek preposition when thus used with words of time. 

3 So a. v.; but you-ward, r. v., on the better MS. authority. 
An improvement would be "longsuffering of you." 



i6o The Foundation and the Superstructure 



fear and trembling should be "looking for and speeding 
the coming of the day of God" in victory, when the 
natural shall dissolve and melt away from the glorified 
soul, with all the terrible judgments of which it is 
the instrument. 1 Instead therefore of any deferring 
to the future of the day of judgment by the eternal 
Judge, rather, during all the thousands of years of the 
continuance of the natural world, the true idea is, 
**The Lord is at hand," ^ and likewise, of course, ''the 
day of the Lord";^ and in striking language we 
hear, ''For He cometh. He cometh (the present tense 
being emphatically repeated), to judge the earth";* 
and that He is with us '*all days" to the end.^ And 
in view of this continual judgment it is said, that the 
nations should be glad and sing for joy; because He 
shall "judge the peoples with equity, and lead onward 
the nations upon earth." 6 Yea, He Himself has said, 
"Now is the judgment of this world " ; and has declared 
the unbeliever to be already receiving judgment for 
his deeds ;^ and that every idle word shall have its 
day of judgment. 8 Moreover, we are cautioned, that 
while we ''are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden 
destruction cometh"; or, that "the day of the Lord 
so cometh as a thief in the night"; the Lord being 
revealed from heaven, as in clouds and darkness, in 
these sudden and repeated judgments which darken 
our life; 9 for in them the Son of man cometh at 

1 2 Pet. 3: 5-15. See Hos. 13: 13. 2 Phil. 4: 5. 

3 Zeph. 1:7. 4 Ps. 96: 13. s Matt. 28: 20. 

6 Ps. 67: 4. See r. v. and margin. And see Ps. 96: 11. 

7 John 12: 31; 3: 18. 

8 Matt. 12:36. Lit. "a day of judgment" — i. e., its own day, 
or special judgment. 

9 I Th. 5 : i-ii. 2 Th. i : 4-10. There are in fact three comings 
of Christ which are continually referred to in the scriptures, i. The 



The Day of Judgment i6i 



an hour when we think not ; ^ and that He so cometh, 
because we, in truth, like the evil servant, say in our 
hearts. The Lord delayeth His coming; 2 yea, that, 
while we are thus saying, the day of a visitation of the 
Lord is repeatedly coming as a snare upon ''all 
them that dwell on the face of the whole earth''; and 
that we must learn to watch therefore, and pray always, 
that we may be accounted worthy to escape the judg- 
ments that come upon others, "and to stand before the 
Son of man; " ^ that no generation passes away without 
the visitations of the Lord thereupon ; and that even 
the great Judge may not fix arbitrarily the day and 
hour of His visitations,'^ because of Himself He can 
do nothing; but in deference to His own unalterable 

coming to save the world. 2. The day of continual visitation, or 
long day of judgment. 3. The coming to receive the perfected 
soul, or the final, victorious coming at the end of the long, "last 
day. " I give below some of the innumerable examples of 2 ; al- 
though some of them seem rather, or also, of i and 3, either or both. 
Thus; Is. 2: 12; 10: 3; 13: 6, 9, 13; 22 : 5; 34: 8; 61 : 2; 63: 4; 65: 2, 5. 
Jer. 12: I, 3; 16: 19; 17: 16-18; 25: 16-18, 29-38; 30: 7-24; 46: 10, 
21; 50: 27-32. Lam. 1 : 12, 13, 21 ; 2 : I, 21, 22 ; 3: 3. Ezek. 7:7-12, 
19, 27; 13: 5; 30: 2, 3, 8, 9, 18, 19; 34: 12; 39: 8, II, 13. Joel i: 
15; 2: I, 2, II, 31; 3: 14, 18. Amos 3; 14; 5: 18-24. Obad. 15. 
Mic. 7: 4. Nahum i: 2-9; 2: 3. Hab. 3: 16. Zeph. i: 7, 14-18; 
2: 2, 3; 3: 8, 17. Zech. 14: I, 6-9. Mai. 3: I, 2; 4: I, 3, 5. Matt. 
24 and 25 chaps. Mk. 13 ch. Luke 12 ch. ; 17: 20-37; 21: 5-36. 
John 11: 23-27; 12: 48. Acts 2: 16-21; 17: 30, 31. Rom. i : 18; 
2: 2-12, 16; 8: 36; 10: 21; 13: 11-14; I Cor. i: 8; 3: 13-15; 5: 5, 13; 
10: 11; 15: 22-28. 2 Cor. 1 : 14; 6: 2. Eph. 4: 30, lit. "/or a day of 
redemption," i.e., of sanctification ; 6: 10-18. Phil, i: 6, 10; 
2: 16. I Th. 5: 23, lit. "during the coming." Heb. 10: 26-39; 
12: 25-29. I Pet. 2: 12; 4: 5-7. 2 Pet. 2: 9, lit. "to be corrected 
during a day of judgment"; 3: 4-15; i John 4: 17. Jude 6, lit. 
''for a judgment of a great day,!' 14-18. Rev. 6: 16, 17; 16: 14, 
15, etc. 

* Luke 12: 40. Matt. 24: 37-44. 

2 Matt. 24: 48. Luke 12: 45. ' Luke 21: 34-36. 

< Matt. 24:34-36. Mk. 13:30-37. Luke 21:32. 



1 62 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



gift of free-will, as He hears, so must He judge ;i 
that therefore, as pertains to eternal justice, the 
unbeliever is properly judged already ; 2 yea, that the 
fire is now prepared for the devil and his angels ; ^ 
and is kindled for them too; even for all imperfect 
souls, and right here upon this earth of ours; ^ that 
even because we have been gifted with Life and 
Immortality, the Holy Giver, who is no "minister of 
sin," ^ sends no peace on earth, now that the peace 
of final Death has been taken away, but a sword ; ^ 
that "His heart is stablished, and will not shrink, 
until He see His desire upon His enemies"; ^ and 
that out of our prison of judgment, or our incarcera- 
tion in some form or other of the natural, none 
of us shall be delivered until the very last mite has 
been paid; that is, until the last atom of Sinfulness 
has been removed ;8 that to some there will be few 
stripes, and to others many, according to the justice 
of the several cases ; ^ although all shall be prisoners of 
hope; 10 that the prophecy, or teaching, of even Enoch 
of the antediluvian world is said to have been, * 'Behold, 
the Lord is come, with His holy myriads, to execute 
judgment upon aH";^^ that the Lord Himself, in His 
last revelations to men, declares that the teaching 
must not be sealed, — that is, must be open to them 
to read and interpret for themselves, — to wit, that 
under all circumstances, men shall have their free 
option to be filthy or holy, unrighteous or righteous; 

» John 5 : 30. Gen. i : 26-28. Deut. 30 : 19. 
« John 3:18. 3 Matt. 25:41- < Luke 12:49- 

5 Gal. 2:17. 6 Matt. 10:34. » Psalter 112:8. 

8 Matt. 18:34. Luke 12:59. 

» Luke 12:47, 48. »o Zech. 9:11, 12. 

»» Do the "holy myriads" include the countless things, animate 
and inanimate, of the natural world? Jude 14. 



'* Yea, I Come Quickly" 163 



assuring them, however, that "the time is at hand," 
even the time of their corresponding judgment ; and 
that He thereupon tells us plainly, "And behold, I 
come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render 
to each man according as is his work"; and that His 
very last message to us is, "Yea, I come quickly." ^ 

§83. "Yea, I Come Quickly." — Furthermore, we 
are taught that we all shall see this continual coming 
in judgment. Even to the high priest and council who 
were delivering Him to be crucified Jesus said, ' * Hence- 
forth ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right 
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 2 
And this but a short time after He had declared, "Yet 
a little while, and the world seeth me no more.'" ^ The 
explanation is, that from that time on they would see 
Him coming with the spiritual, not the carnal eye; 
and even so, only in clouds — in clouds, that is to say of 
course, not in mere natural vapour, but "in the clouds 
of heaven.'' In these, indeed, we all behold Him; 
recognising Him in the wielding of the right hand 
of heavenly power. But no man, certainly, could 
bear the sight of the great Judge of all the earth in 
His full personal glory, or the awful majesty of His 
countenance when He comes in judgment upon the 
wicked. For ' 'justice and judgment are the habitation 
of" His throne, or of His seat in heaven at the right 
hand of power ; * while, hiding the Judge Himself from 
view, "clouds and darkness are round about Him." ^ 
And in these lowering clouds, and in the gloom of this 
forbidding darkness, it is, that we all, as did thence- 

» Rev. 22 : 10-12, 20. And see 2 : 5, 16, 23. 

2 Matt. 26: 64. Henceforth (r. v.), not hereafter (a. v.). 

3 John 14:19. * Ps. 89 : 14 ; 97 : 2. « Ps. 97:2, and passim. 



i64 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



forth in their day Caiaphas and the council, now also 
behold Him; or only in ''the sign of the Son of man 
in heaven"; particularly when it is displayed in the 
awful exercise of His divine justice and judgment.^ 
Indeed, for the very preservation of our GoD-given 
sovereignty moreover, that we may not be overawed 
into slavish subjection, there must needs be veiled 
from us, when under condemnation, the brightness 
of His dazzling, awe-inspiring presence, with His face 
plainly flaming with wrath because of our imper- 
fections. Nay, even when He reveals His mercies 
and merciful designs to the children of men, it is 
instructively said, "I will appear in the cloud upon the 
mercy seat." 2 And thus He, who necessarily tells of 
spiritual things only in parables, is of greater necessity 
Himself a parable to us all. Whether therefore He 
appears in judgment or in mercy, "the Light shineth 
in the darkness";^ and it shineth the more obscurely, 
of course, the greater the spiritual darkness. 

§ 84. Terrors of Second Advent. — Since then 
the coming of the Lord is only visible in the signs 
thereof, we are still further distinctly taught as follows : 
That *'The kingdom of God cometh not with obser- 
vation"; but is within each individual soul;^ for 
that the unchangeable Lord of all is leading His people, 
the great congregation built upon Him, through the 
wilderness of the world, as He led His typical con- 
gregation of old, ''by day in a pillar of a cloud," "and 
by night in a pillar of fire." ^ As it is said, "He shall 
show judgment to the nations. He shall not strive, nor 

1 Matt. 24:29-41. Rev. 1:7, 13-18. Heb. 12:14. iJohn3:2. 

2 Lev. 16: 2. ^ John i: 5. 
4 Luke 17: 20, 21. 5 Ex. 13: 21, 22. 



Terrors of Second Advent 165 



cry ; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets." ^ 
And consistently with what was said to the high 
priest and council, we are told, that "all the tribes of 
the earth" — ''every eye" — including the very men 
who pierced Him, shall see His coming; but again, 
that, with all alike, the vision of Him shall be not in 
Person, but in clouds: wherein shall be seen, in fact, 
instead of the Person, merely ''the sign of the Son 
of man";2 while the darkening of the sun, the turning 
of the moon into blood, and the falling of the stars, 
have their place in the formidable description of His 
Coming; 3 just as the old prophets in the same parabolic 
way had made them, in their prophetic descriptions, 
to accompany the downfall of Nineveh, and Babylon, 
and Egypt, and other ancient wicked peoples; and 
also to show forth the woes upon the children of 
Israel, and upon the whole earth. ^ Thus, in a variety 
of ways, earthly figures of the most imposing character 
are multiplied in the scriptures, to impress upon our 
minds the terrors of the Second Advent. Since we are 
not suffered to be confounded by a personal vision of 
the Son of man, the merciful Judge would have us 
realise as much as possible His present fearful Coming 
in judgment upon the earth. As usual, He speaks 
in parables, telling us therein, that from His throne 
in heaven the judgments of His great day are issuing 

» Matt. 12:18, 19. Is. 42:1, 2. 

2 Matt. 24:30. Rev. 15:1. 2X11.1:4,5. And see Gen. 9: 8-17, 
Ex. 19: 16-25. Dan. 7:13, 14. Nah. 1:2,3. 

3 Matt. 24: 29. Mk. 13: 24-26. Luke 21: 11, 25. Acts 2: 19, 
20. Heb. 12:26. Rev. 6: 12, 13 ; 8: 10, II ; 9: I ; 21 : 23 ; 22 : 5. 



4Job 5: 14. is. 8: 20, 22; 13:9, 10124: 21-23 ; 30: 26; 59: 9, 10; 
60: 1-3, 19, 20. Jer. 15: 9. Ezek. 30: 3; 32: 7, 8. Joel 2: 1-3, 
io> 30. 31; 3: 12-16. Amos 5: 18-20; 8: 9. Mic. 3: 6. Nahum 
i: 1-8. Zeph. i: 14, i^;. Has:. 2: 6. 



1 66 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



all the while. That is, we must not in our literalism 
be looking for His natural form, sitting on the clouds 
of earth, exhibiting the sign of a material cross before our 
carnal eyes. On the contrary, the world at large, ' ' every 
eye," is now seeing both the Coming in clouds and 
also ''the sign of the Son of man." And if we would 
know what "the sign" is, and very plainly too, let 
us not beguile ourselves with literal interpretations of 
solemn figures of speech. We shall find the reality 
nearer in the continual crosses of life. For, indeed, 
we are distinctly told what the reality is ; namely, that 
all the persecutions and tribulations which we endure are 
"a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God"; 
and that this "manifest token,'' or sign, is exhibited 
"at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven 
with the angels of His power in flaming fire, ^ rendering 
vengeance to them that know not God, and to them 
that hearken not to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 2 And it is also said, "And I saw another 
sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels 
having seven (the full or complete number) plagues, 
(which are) the last, for in them is made complete 
(or, is ended) the wrath of God."^ In this "sign," 
or "manifest token," or, that is, in the judgments of 
heaven upon all imperfect souls, we all do of a verity 
see the Coming of the Son of man. Said the prophet, 
" Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! 
to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is 

» The angels or messengers of His power by which He takes 
vengeance are clearly the powers of nature in which we are now 
incarcerated, as fire, wind, disease, etc. See Heb. 1:7. 

2 2 Th. 1 : 4-10. 

3 Rev. 15:1. In them, that is, the wrath of God accomplishes 
its great undertaking. The Greek verb carries that idea. It is 
rendered in the a. v. "is filled up"; in the r. v. "is finished." 



The Day of the Lord 167 



darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from 
a lion, and a bear met him;^ or went into the house, 
and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit 
him." 2 And proclaimed another: 

** The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth 
greatly. . . . That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble 
and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of 
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick dark- 
ness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced 
cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring 
distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, 
because they have sinned against the Lord." ^ 

§ 85. The Day of the Lord. — ^The old prophet 
tells us then, that sinners shall walk in the day of the 
Lord, when He comes speedily in judgment upon 
them, ''like blind men." And this is the common 
teaching of the Bible. How singular it is, when men 
are emphatically assured by our Lord, and also by 
St. Paul, that the word of inspiration must have spir- 
itual, and not literal interpretation, in its diversified 
parables and figures of speech,^ that they should persist 
in their carnal literalism. And yet, it is only too 
natural that carnal men should exhibit what is in them. 
But it is certainly remarkable that the exhibition 

» Intimating no hope of escape from unpardonable Sinfulness, 
as well as the variety of the judgments upon men. 

2 Amos 5: 18, 19. 

3 Zeph. i: 14-17. 

« The very Gospel which contains the two "Excepts," as they 
are called, whose literal interpretation has so divided Christians, 
is the one in which our Lord assures us, that it is the spirit which 
giveth Life; and that the flesh profiteth nothing; and that His 
words are spirit, and refer to the gaining for men of Life. More- 
over, these assurances are in the very same chapter, and in im- 
mediate connection with, and have direct reference to, the second 
*' Except, " and to what He had said in connection therewith. 



1 68 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



should be so widely prevalent among Christians, both 
learned and unlearned, in regard to the second advent 
of the now glorified Son of man, as to cause them to 
believe in a literal way that only at some distant 
day He, the eternal Judge, is to come; and that He 
shall appear in visible form, sitting on the clouds of 
vapour over our heads, and accompanied visibly by 
holy angels or spirits of heaven, and exhibiting a 
material cross; — all exposed to the terrified, but sensual 
gaze of the wicked! Do they at all realise what the 
inspired w^ord tells them? — that without holiness, or 
more strictly, sanctification, **no man shall see the 
Lord";^ that when we shall indeed see Him, we 
shall be like Him ; 2 or that at the coming to the per- 
fected saint, the vile body of earth shall be changed, 
and ** fashioned like unto His glorious body";^ — and 
that, when so fashioned, it is, like His, compared to the 
sun which shineth in its strength.^ Can they not 
perceive the contradictions which by their literal inter- 
pretations they would make in the word of the con- 
sistent God? — contradictions therein, however, in the 
literal sense, and evidently designed to induce us to 
construe spiritual things spiritually: — ^how, on the one 
hand, the sacred word assures us that the world shall 
see the ascended Jesus no more ; and that its unholiness 
is an absolute bar to that vision; and yet, on the other, 
that ''all the tribes of the earth" — "every eye" — 
including the wicked, shall see Him; — ^how again it 
says, that the Lord and the day of the Lord are at 
hand ; even His own generation not passing previously 
away; — a present coming of the Eternal in judgment, 
nevertheless, which they would postpone to the end 

1 Heb. 12: 14. 2 I John 3:2. 3 Phil. 3: 21, 

4 Matt. 13 : 43 ; 17: 2. Rev. i : 16; 10: i. 



The Coming in the Clouds 169 



of the world; ^ — how still again, at that Coming, they 
would have the one part of the world received into 
bliss, and the other consigned to everlasting damnation ; 
while yet, to both classes it is said of inspiration to be 
a coming in clouds; yea, a day of darkness, and of 
judgment, and of the preaching of the Gospel to the 
whole world, or, as it is also said, ''on the four winds, 
from one end of heaven to the other." 2 

§ 86. The Coming in the Clouds. — ^Rather, for- 
saking literalism, in what exact harmony with all the 
Biblical statements upon the subject it is, and with 
the spiritual, visible fact of judgment upon all, to have 
the inspired word declare first, how all see the Coming 
in clouds, and then, immediately, not that any so see- 
ing shall be admitted into heaven, but, as is more con- 
sonant with the beholding of a **sign" or "manifest 
token" of that coming in judgment upon the whole 
earth, that "all the tribes of the earth," all without 
exception so seeing, shall mourn and wail at the sight ;^ 
just as, indeed, is our constant earthly experience. For, 
however much the coming in clouds may be intended 
to bless mankind by leading them on to perfection, 
yet "no chastening for the present seemeth to be 
joyous, but grievous." ^ Accordingly, in the represent- 
ation of the coming in clouds, we do not find any who 

» The Greek of the apostles' question in Matt, 24: 3 is as to "the 
end of the cBon, " to wit, the Jewish cBon. They did not ask about 
"the end of the world," but about the coming in judgment upon 
the Jews. 

2 Matt. 24: 29-42. Mk. 13: 24-37- Luke 21: 25-36. Amos 5: 
18-20. 

3 Matt. 24:30. Rev. i: 7. Luke 21: 8-1 1, 25-36. Zech. 12: 
10-14. 

4 Heb. 12: II. 



170 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



rejoice, but altogether those who mourn and wail, 
and who need to be comforted, and upon whom duties 
which belong to this life are laid. And observe, 
how very like the representation is to that of the 
forlorn disciples on the Mount of Olives, on behold- 
ing their beloved Master, whose sweet companionship 
for three whole years had been theirs, disappearing 
from them at last in a cloud! And this, even though, 
as in His present judgments is still the motive, His 
hands were lifted up in blessing. 1 It required the 
assurance of angels, an assurance not then fully 
realised, that He was to come again after His terrible 
sojourn in clouds, even as He was seen to go; or out 
of clouds, to bring comfort to their faithful hearts at the 
prospect of seeing Him again. And yet, for all their 
joyous hopes, a fearful future was before them during 
that intermediate stay in the clouds, ere they should 
see Him again; or ere He should reappear in person 
out of the clouds, to give them the crown of righteous- 
ness. 2 And to enable them to endure what meanwhile 
they would have to undergo, they must needs wait 
until they should receive the Comforter. Thus He, the 
Sun of Righteousness, is to come finally out of the 
cloud in which for a figure He was seen to go; 3 while, 
during His continuance therein, it is for every one 
of us "a cloudy day," ^ a long day of mourning and 
wailing, and watching and waiting, and of the need of 
the Comforter. "And now men see not the bright 
Light which is in the clouds: but the wind (the Holy 
Spirit) passeth, and cleanseth them."s We see the 
Light of the Sun, but not its brightness. 

» Luke 24:49-53. ^ 2 Tim. 4:8. 

sActs 1:9-14. Mai. 4:2. < Ezek. 30:35 32:7-9; 34: 11-13. 

5 Job 37:21. 



Destruction of ''Second Death" 171 



§ 87. Destruction of '' Second Death/* — How 
very far removed is this representation of the mourn- 
ing and waiHng of all who see Him coming in clouds 
from the representation throughout inspiration of those 
in whom perfect love has cast out fear, and who **love 
His appearing." These are like their Lord when 
they see Him; and they are satisfied; and their joy no 
man taketh from them.^ They have fought the good 
fight ; and now they are received unto their Lord, to 
be forever with Him. How can they mourn and wail? 
Nor is it reasonable, on the one hand, that these should 
all attain unto perfection at the same time, nor, on the 
other, that such as from time to time become perfect 
should have their glorious reward delayed. ''We 
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling 
of an eye, at the last trump" of victory in each case; 
"but each man in his own order"; even though with 
the many it should require thousands of years of judg- 
ment, and of consequent mourning and wailing. Still, 
we are assured, that Death, that is, the only Death 
which now remains, to wit, the Second Death, shall 
finally be destroyed, even the Death which brings the 
mourning and wailing; because at last all shall be 
subdued unto God, and God shall be all in all. 2 Thus 
successively and independently shall it be in respect 
of each individual; — at first an Enoch,^ then an Elijah, ^ 
after that those who came forth after the resurrection 
of the Deliverer, 5 next, possibly, a St. Paul,^ or a 
St. John ; ^ — ^whoever of men, in fact, at any period of 



» I John 3:2; 4: 18. 2 Tim. 4:8. Ps. 17:15. John 16: 22. 
2 I Cor. 15: 20-28; 3: 13-15. Eph. i: 10, 22, 23. Phil. 2: 10, 11. 
Col. 1:19, 20. Is. 45 : 23, etc. 

» Gen. 5: 24. Heb. 11:5. * 2 K. 2: 11. 

s Matt. 27: 52, 53. 6 2 Tim. 4: 6-8. ' John 21: 18-24. 



172 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the Coming of Christ, whether immediately, or in the 
second or third watch, or, alas! after protracted judg- 
ment, at a later period, ^ may, in their due succession, 
at the last gospel trump in each particular case, 2 be 
found perfect; 3 the dead of old, with their longer op- 
portunities, first attaining, and afterward the living 
who from time to time may remain upon earth during 
that coming.^ That is to say, in the long ''last day" 
of the scriptures, s all, in their several order, who there- 
tofore shall have been under the power of the Second 
Death, shall attain imto the resurrection therefrom.^ 
They shall be raised up in this long, "last day," ^ 
or seon of perfecting judgment; for the object of 
''all judgment" is declared to be, that ''all men should 
honour" as a loving Father the good and merciful 
God and Saviour of the world. ^ For their long, long 
aeon indeed, — ^the length being due in the case of each 

1 Luke 12: 35-49. 2 I Cor. 15: 20-28, 49-57. 

3 Phil. 3: 10-14, 20, 21. •* I Th. 4: 15-18. 

5 John 6: 39, 40, 44, 54; 11: 24-25 (mistake as to last day cor- 
rected); 12: 48; 5: 25, 30. I John 2: 18. I Tini. 4: i. 2 Tim, 
3:1. 2 Pet. 3: 3. Jude 18. Heb. i: 2; 9: 26. Acts 2: 16, 17. 
I Pet. i: 5, 20; 4: 2. Job 19: 25. So, "in that day" in the Bible 
is the usual equivalent of some day, or, at some time. 

6 There are three resurrections continually mentioned or re- 
ferred to in the Bible: i. One which is past, to wit, that from 
final Death; of which St. Paul speaks, when he says, "If ye then 
be risen with Christ " (Col. 3:1, referring back to 2 : 12). 2. Next, 
that which should be all the while taking place; of which again St. 
Paul speaks, when he says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise 
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph. 5: 14, a. v.). 
3. The final resurrection of the perfected soul in glory. St. 
Paul's rebuke of Hymenaeus and Philetus refers not only to this, 
but also to the second, when he says, "Who concerning the truth 
have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and over- 
throw the faith of some" (2 Tim. 2 : 17-19, — verse 19 referring also 
to the first. And see i Tim. i: 19, 20). 

7 John 6:39, ^'tc- ^ John 5: 22, 23. 



Scripture and Philosophy 173 



one of his own procrastinating will, — they partook of 
the mortal and corruptible in **the old man" within; 
but at length, we are told, ^'the dead shall be raised 
incorruptible.'' ^ The beginning of this great, universal 
resurrection going on all through the ages had only 
waited until the baptism of Jesus into Death had 
completed the payment of the penalty of sin, and until 
His resurrection from Death had burst the Gates of 
Hades, even of that pit wherein previously had been 
no Water of Life, and into which He brought the 
preaching of the Gospel of Life, and its unfailing, 
eternal Hope. 2 And now, how comforting are His 
loving, gracious words, addressed, through His disciples 
of long ago, to all, to the end of the world, who will 
receive them: — ''Fear not, little flock; for it is your 
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. "3 
Yea ; for His search in the wilderness for each lost sheep 
whom He came to save will continue, as it is said, 
until it is founds As said the Psalmist, ''Through 
the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit 
themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship 
thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy 
name." s 

§ 88. Superiority of Scripture over Philosophy. 
— How loftily these revelations, whether as respects 
their explanation of the great fact of our existence in 
a state of evil and judgment, of their coherent setting 
forth of a high destiny for us all, or their representation 



1 I Cor. 15: 52. 

2 I Pet. 3: 19; 4: 6. Heb. 6: 17-20. Luke 12: 49, 50. Matt. 
16: 18, 21. Zech. 9: II. 

3 Luke 12: 32. •* Luke 15: 4. Matt. 18: 11. 
5 Ps. 66: 3, 4. 



174 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



of the relations of the Creator with His creatures, or 
their no less than superhuman consistency in all pro- 
found spiritual matters, compare with the crude and 
varying ideas of the wisest philosophers throughout 
the long period of the world's history, and even, in 
general, with the unlovely views of most Christians, who 
have been misinterpreting the sacred writings in all 
the long centuries since the New Testament was given 
to the world. Consider, for example, how the most 
intelligent of believing Christians are continually post- 
poning eternal, perfect justice, even that of the eternal, 
ever perfect God, for thousands of years, without re- 
gard to the inconsistent ideas thus necessitated ; until, 
in fact, as they speak, there would be for the greater 
number no beneficial, elevating use in the administration 
of such non-eternal, but only future justice; and until 
its object would simply be, that the punishment of 
■finite sin might gratify a malicious, infinitely prolonged 
vengeance and cruelty ;i — ^that is to say, the malice 
of an everlasting devil; 2 thus making the object 
of *'all judgment" not to be that *'all men" should 
honour their Judge, as declared by our Lord,^ but 
rather the insatiate gratification of vengeful spite ; and 
this on the part of the best and most merciful of be- 
ings — of Him whose mercy endureth for ever! How 

* There is, indeed, what men might call postponed justice, which 
is not such at all; where, to render the judgment more effective, 
the wise Judge for a time delays the stroke. It is often a fearful 
necessity, and would not therefore be true to the nature of God, 
and His merciful purpose, unless so delayed. Related to this, in 
fact, is a case where, as it is said, "the iniquity of the Amorites 
is not yet full" (Gen. 15: 16). 

2 Is sin, like God, infinite? and not being so, can the finite sin 
contain the infinite? On the other hand, if infinite, can a finite 
being contain an infinite sin? See § 13 (a). 

3 John 5: 22, 23. 



Scripture and Philosophy 175 

fearlessly men put dishonour upon God! and in doing 
so disregard His all-comforting declaration that the 
object of their very judgments is, that *'all should 
honour'* Him! And these immerciful, self -contra- 
dictory views of theirs are an exhibition of what 
men of the greatest wisdom and learning, although 
Christians, and with the book of inspiration before them, 
may unhappily work out for themselves; especially 
when they rely upon the letter of inspiration; and 
look for the spiritual meaning of its metaphors on the 
plane of nature. How by contrast do the results of 
the opposite method, when carefully pursued, become 
their own inherent proof, and proclaim the super- 
natural Source of that unerring consistency and ex- 
ceeding loftiness of view which always belong to 
the revelations of the Bible when rightly interpreted! 
On the other hand, how many other examples of 
similar low views and inconsistencies we have found 
on the part of those who reason from ''the letter," 
although with the best efforts of the natural mind I No 
wonder that among them are some who actually look 
for, at their distant judgment day, a darkening of the 
literal sun and moon, even the changing of the latter 
into literal blood, and the literal falling of the stars! 
The spiritual application of such parabolic language 
— so often employed by the old prophets to denote the 
fall of wicked empires and kingdoms, with their haughty 
monarchs and queens and nobles — to the judgments now 
going on upon all that is high and lifted up, and, in 
fact, upon all men, all of whom in one way or other 
are making wrongful use of talents vouchsafed, or 
neglecting opportunities of usefulness, right here and 
now upon earth, seems to be utterly lost upon these 
literal interpreters. And they forget the strong 



176 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



language of the Judge Himself — ' ' I have come to hurl 
fire on the earth; and what will I, if it has been already- 
kindled!" Or better, ''and what do I will (or, would 
I) ? even that it should have been already kindled." ^ 

§ 89. Blasphemous Interpretations of Scrip- 
ture. — And they would even insist that the glory 
and sovereignty of the great God demand the very 
worst of their unmerciful interpretations; — interpre- 
tations, namely, of that God, whom the sacred writings 
depict as so loving the world as to take our infinitely 
inferior nature upon Him, and therein to die for its 
salvation; who thus exceeded in sacrifice, far beyond 
finite conception, — just as it pertains to His infinite 
goodness to do, — all other sacrifices that ever were 
made! and yet a sacrifice for the beloved world which 
even Christians, by their blasphemous interpretations, 
would dare hold to have been worse than useless! 
And let us not forget how these same gross misinter- 
preters would add to their monstrous notions the claim, 

» For in addition to effecting our deliverance from Death, to 
become fully our Saviour, He must also recover us from Sinfulness. 
But, He goes on to say, He was straitened in His Work. Why? 
Because at that time the curse of Death was not yet removed. 
Hence, although by anticipation Judgment was administered 
already, the flaming sword was still turning every way, barring 
man from the Tree of Life (John 3: 18; 12: 31. Gen. 3: 24). Ob- 
serve the consecutiveness of the whole passage : After telling of the 
judgment according to deeds inflicted upon men, with its many 
or few stripes, and of men notwithstanding saying in their hearts. 
The Lord delayeth His coming, Jesus thus proceeds: "I have come 
to hurl fire on the earth ; and what will I ? even that it should have 
been already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptised with; 
and how am I straitened till it shall have been accomplished! 
Suppose ye that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, 
Nay." — Luke 12: 49-51- And see John 3 : 18; 12 : 48. 2 Pet. 3 : 7. 
Matt. 27: 52, 53, etc. 



The Second Coming 177 



that at their long-postponed day of cruel judgment the 
carnal eyes of the wicked shall literally behold the pure 
and holy Lord of all in His glory ! And again, although 
they recognise that at His coming the natural in those 
who see Him is to give place to the spiritual, yet they 
would represent the august Judge as making His 
appearance in a natural way, sitting literally upon the 
fleeting, material things of earth — yea, upon actual 
clouds of vapour! Such are the incongruous theories — 
not, let us observe once more, of unbelieving philosophers 
and metaphysicians, without a Bible, groping in the 
darkness after the unrevealed things of God, of which, 
without a revelation, they could know nothing at all, 
and whose wiser course would be, veritably, to be 
agnostics,* — but of intelligent and learned Christians, 
with their Bibles right before them, and striving with 
all sincerity to make their interpretations; and this, 
all through the long centuries, early 2 and late! 

§ 90. Second Coming Complemental to First. — 
The explanation by the Christian system of the facts 
of our existence in this world culminates in declaring 
the immediate Second Advent of the Son of God to be 

1 Deut. 29: 29. 

2 What a commentary this upon the value of the testimony of 
the uninspired early Christians to truth and the interpretation of 
scripture! The Bible itself shows how prone they were to err 
even in apostolic days ; and who does not know the immense changes 
which the lapse of but a single century will produce ? Their testi- 
mony, in fact, is only of value, when not opposed to inspiration 
and universally concordant, and from widely distant, independent 
sources. In respect of our present subject, most of the early 
Christians — one is tempted to speak even more strongly — seem 
to have been believers in the literal second coming of the Son of 
man in visible form to all ; and that it would take place in their own 
day and generation ; thus evidencing the little reliance to be placed 
upon them, in general, as interpreters of the word of God. 



73 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



necessarily complement al to the First, and to involve 
the concurrent mission of the Unpardoning Spirit; in 
order that sovereign man, after his restoration to Life, 
may be led on to perfection in conformity with the 
eternal Justice and Mercy of God, and without the 
least coercion of the never-to-be-repented-of Gift of 
Free - Will. ^ But it will be seen that the primary, 
fundamental idea of that system is the First Advent. 
This is the Foundation Rock on which the whole 
system is built. ^ It was this Advent which burst the 
Gates of Hades, and gained the recovery from thence 
of the great congregation of the dead, without the 
loss of a single soul.^ Through this the world, the 
whole world, when ''dead in trespasses and sins," by 
an act of free Grace to all alike, was quickened, or made 
alive; that is, re-begotten, or "born again** from the 
dead.'* With wonderful unanimity and repeated em- 
phasis this fundamental feature of the system, this 
Rock-Foundation, (a) as it is called, is brought to the 
front, not only by all the writers of the New Testament, 
but in many a parable, and allegorical story, and 
prophecy of the Old. Through this, as it is said, both 
Jews and Gentiles are now become "the household of 
God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Christ Jesus being its chief ComerStone." 5 



» Rom. 11: 29. Deut. 30: 15, 19. 

2 I Cor. 3: 11-16. 2 Tim. 2: 19. Is. 28: 16, 17. Gen. 49: 24. 
Deut. 32: 4, 15, 18, 30, 31. Ps. 118: 14-29. Matt. 21: 42. Acts 
4: 11-12. I Pet. 2: 4-8, and many others. 

3 Matt. 16:18. John 1 : 29; 4: 42; 5: 25-29; 11: 51, 52. i John 
2: 2; 4: 14. Note in John 11: 51, 52, how "the children of God" 
become the equivalent of " all " or "the world " of the other texts. 

* Eph. 2. 

5 Eph. 2: 19, 20. Or, "Christ Jesus Himself being chief corner 
stone. " 



Christ's Mission 179 



To effect the new birth of the whole world into Life, 
therefore, Jesus had been sent from God. This was His 
special mission, to which all the other facts of His life, 
including His instructions as a Teacher, were but inci- 
dental. Hence, when Nicodemus came especially to 
learn why Jesus had been sent from God, and began 
by acknowledging His divine mission as a Teacher, 
Jesus pointed out to him at once the true, fundamental 
purpose of that mission, declaring the primary need 
for man to be '*born again," even ''from above '*;^ 
that is, not from below; since man, being dead by 
reason of sin under the holy law of God, could never 
by his own faith or works be justified unto Life. As 
St. Paul expressly declares, by the Righteousness of 
Christ justification unto Life has come upon all men 
as a Free Gift. 2 And in logical order, until the primary 
need was supplied, of what use could teaching be? 

§91. Christ's Mission ONE of Love and Mercy. 
— ^And with like congruity of idea Jesus further stated, 
that He had not come on His present mission even 
to judge; men being under condemnation already. 
Rather, His mission was altogether one of Love and 
Mercy. He would first freely give Life to all men by 
His own Faith, with its perfect Works, in their stead; 
and after that would have them exercise their own 
faith, with appropriate works, to become qualified 
for everlasting Life. He says: "For God so loved the 
world, that He hath given 3 His only begotten Son, 
that every one that believeth in Him should not 
perish, but should have eternal Life. For God hath 

» The normal meaning is, it may be remembered, "from above.*' 

2 Rom. 5: 18. 

3 In translating this passage it must be remembered, that the 
Divine Speaker's mission was then of the present, not of the past. 



i8o The Foundation and the Superstructure 



not sent His Son into the world to judge the world; 
but that the world through Him should be saved.'' Thus, 
in accordance with the everlasting mercy and love of 
God, and because all being sinners there was no class 
deserving of special favour, He makes His mission to be 
entirely irrespective, or for all men alike. He declares 
that mission to be the result of God's Love for the 
world, — a Love that knows no end, — and to have 
for its object that the world should be saved. It was 
therefore proclaimed to us to be the Purpose of the 
unchangeable God, begun in logical order to be exe- 
cuted fundamentally in the First Advent, to save 
the world. As St. Paul says again, ''For God hath 
not appointed us unto wrath, but unto the obtaining 
of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died 
for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live 
together with Him/*^ And again: 

"According as He (God the Father) hath chosen us in 
Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and without blame before Him : having 
in love 2 predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus 
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His 
will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, whereby He 
hath been gracious to us in the Beloved. . . . Having 
made known unto us the mystery of His will, (accordiag 
to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Him), 
during ^ a dispensation of the fulness (or, during an admin- 
istration of the full period) of the times, to gather up to 

» iTh. 5:9, 10. 

2 I adopt here the punctuation of Griesbach, which is also given 
as an alternative reading in the margin of the r. v. See the ancient 
authorities cited by Griesbach. 

* The true meaning of the Greek preposition eis with periods of 
time, as already mentioned. 



Reasonableness of the Advents i8i 



Himself all things in the Christ, both those in the heavens^ 
and those upon earth. "2 

And to give one more example of the exultant de- 
clarations of the apostle of the unchangeable purpose 
of the unchangeable God, we read : 

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers (not all the devUs 
with their terribly debasing wiles), nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor (pride-producing) height, nor (any 
degraded) depth nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." ^ 

§ 92. The Reasonableness of the Advents. — 
Let us then not fail to take note, that, as thus ex- 
plained by the scriptures themselves, how perfectly 
conformable both the First and Second Advents are 
with the eternal Love and Justice of God, and with 
the best and highest interests of men, as well as with 
their present condition in this world. Surely, to the 
reasonableness of the system, both God ward and 
man ward, as thus revealed, the mind and heart of 
man alike bear testimony, and upon its truth natural 
religion sets its approving seal. That we may appre- 
ciate that reasonableness the more, let us keep in 
mind that the two Advents are revelations and mani- 
festations to the creature of what, however, has 
always taken place in the counsels of Heaven from the 

» 7. e., the dead who now may be in the several places of the 
departed, even those who "sleep," as they are designated in the 
preceding cited text. 

2 Eph, 1 : 4-6, 9, 10. 

3 Rom. 8: 38, 39. See §49 for the passage more at length, with 
comments. 



i82 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



beginning of creation ; or, as we are expressly told, that 
the Lamb hath been slain ^ from the foundation of the 
world : 2 — ^so that the logical order is primarily the First 
Advent, and then the Second. And let us note also 
again, as a corollary to this eternal Love and Justice 
where the Lord is ever at hand, what an unreasonable 
contrast to the system is presented by the crude ideas 
of even the wise and prudent among Christians, who 
would postpone the full exercise of these eternal at- 
tributes to a future, far-distant judgment day! And 
let us particularly note the necessity of the explanation 
given by the system to the facts relating to the condi- 
tion of the creature which are right before our eyes; 
remembering at the same time, that if there were 
another explanation to be given, it also would have to 
be vouched for by revelation, so far as the instrumen- 
tality or manner of our new birth into Life is concerned ; 
since to the counsels of Heaven the whole problem 
properly and exclusively belongs. It is different as 
to the necessity of the new birth. For in view of the 
wages of sin being utter Death, and of all men being 
sinners, what thoughtful mind is there that ought not 
to know the patent necessity for all men to be "bom 
again" into Life, and to receive in addition, in order 
to do good works, of "the Spirit of Truth"? For the 
very fact that we live makes it patent to us that in 
some way or other God has conferred upon us Life 
in the place of the Death produced by Sin; and so 
again our good and evil conduct makes it just as patent 
that we have within us both the Spirit of Truth and the 
spirit of error; and therefore, in respect of our good 

1 The perf. passive in the Greek. 

2 Rev. 13: 8. And see Rom. 16: 25. i Cor. 2: 7. Eph. i: 4; 
3:9,11. 2 Tim. 1:9. iPet. 1:2, 20. 



Necessity of Resurrection 183 



deeds, that we are manifestly born of the Holy Spirit 
of God, which is the only Source of the goodness in 
men.i The manner, however, in which we have been 
born again into Life and the Spirit is, of course, without 
revelation, altogether beyond us ; our dual birth being a 
supernatural truth in respect of which we are the mere 
recipients of the benefits conferred. We should never 
know the manner, therefore, except in so far as it may 
be revealed ; but the necessity of the new birth is quite 
apparent to any one who believes the wages of Sin 
to be immediate Death. 

§93. The Necessity of Resurrection. — In the 
interview of Nicodemus with our Lord it has been 
pointed out, that there is an evident implication, in the 
opening words of Jesus, of the utter valuelessness of 
teaching, if there were not conferred upon men a new 
Immortal Life ''from God," in the place of the Death 
to which they are normally sentenced under His holy 
law. It may be added, on that supposition, that there 
would be a similar lack of benefit to them (if works 
were possible to the dead) from the doing of even 
good works, and especially those of self-sacrifice and 
of religious observance. It may be well to notice how 
St. Paul pursues precisely this line of thought in the 
beautiful fifteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the 
Corinthians. Therein, as usual, the apostle urges us 
to ''awake to righteousness, and sin not." But he 
sees no benefit in so doing, or in teaching, or in the 
religious observances of Christianity, if there has not 
been gained for man the resurrection of the dead. He 
argues: "If Christ hath not been raised, then both vain 

1 Acts 17: 28. Rom. 8: 14-17, 21. Gal. 4: 6, 7; 5: 18-25. 
I John 3: 8-10, 14-19; 4: 2-16. 



1 84 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



is our preaching, and vain is your faith. . . . For 
if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been 
raised; and ... ye are yet in your sins." And 
he adds of the dead who have fallen asleep with faith 
in Christ, that they simply have perished. His idea is, 
that if Christ hath not been raised, like others in that 
event, He also must now be dead; in which case our 
faith in a resurrection of the dead, through one who is 
himself hopelessly dead, must be in vain. And he 
goes on therefore to declare how emptied of its signific- 
ance becomes that sacrament, in particular, which was 
specially intended by our Lord to speak to us of the 
resurrection! For if Christ Himself is still dead, then 
is He not our Life, but all men are still dead before the 
law. And accordingly, the apostle speaks of those 
who are baptised, as baptised only " in respect of ^ the 
dead." His words are: ''For 2 what shall they do 
who are baptised in respect of the dead ? ^ If the dead 

» The normal meaning of huper is over. It may also mean in re- 
spect of, concerning, in the name of, for the benefit of, for the sake of, 
in behalf of, for, etc. The versions render it for. 

2 "For" better gives the force of epei here, than the "else" 
of the versions. After showing with emphasis what Christ's 
work will bring about for all, the apostle returns to his previous 
line of thought and shows in turn the idleness of baptism, if Christ 
be not risen, and the vanity of His preaching and of our faith. 

3 "In respect of the dead." It is the plural number; because 
perhaps of its reference to both Christ and ourselves as assumed 
to be dead. The transition of meaning from over, the primary 
sense of huper, to in respect of, or in regard to, may be illustrated by 
the following sentence: "Don't worry over — i. e., in respect of, or 
in regard to — what is past. " So, the apostle's idea is, "Why bap- 
tise — a ceremony indicative of faith in the resurrection and the 
life — if we believe that Christ is not raised, and that there is no 
resurrection of the dead? Why then baptise over the dead?" 
To render "for" has the same idea; but I have heard of educated 
presbyters who because of this rendering did not understand the 
passage, and avowed it publicly. 



Renewed Life 185 



are not raised at all, why then are they baptised in 
respect of them (or of dead persons, such as the assump- 
tion would make Christ to be)? What! and do we 
stand in jeopardy every hour?" In other words, are 
we, perishing unfortunates, under the curse of Death, 
and at any moment to die for ever, holding an empty 
ceremony about Immortality ''over" the dead, to 
wit, over the dead Christ and ourselves, also dead. 
For if Christ be dead, baptism contains no assurance 
of a resurrection from the dead, but is an idle, un- 
profitable ceremony ; and men still remain in jeopardy 
of Death, even as the apostle says, every hour. With 
the curse therefore continuing over us, what is our 
baptism but for the dead? Nay, continues the apostle, 
of what advantage to me is all my dying daily to the 
flesh, denying myself its desires; or my awful fighting 
with wild beasts, when put before them at Ephesus? 
Rather, "if the dead are not raised, let us eat and 
drink, for to-morrow we die." Let us indulge our 
appetites to the full, and have at least that much 
gratification out of our brief survival of the sentence of 
Death. 1 

§94. The Gift of Renewed Life. — I call special 
attention to the statement of what we may or may not 

1 Of course, normally, the sentence of Death, but for Christ, 
would have had immediate execution; but St. Paul is reasoning 
from the actual, evident suspension of that execution until natural 
death, and on the hypothesis that Christ had not risen. The 
uselessness of religious teaching, of good works, of religious ob- 
servances, when this life is all, is the idea, without endeavouring 
to account for the suspension of the execution of the law upon 
sinners, apart from Christ, as is the hypothesis. It was enough 
that the reader acknowledged the wages of sin to be Death, without 
reference to the fact that in the day of sin the sinner should surely 
die. 



1 86 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

know of ourselves in regard to the Gift of renewed Life ; 
that, namely, we can perceive the necessity, but cannot 
discover for ourselves the manner of the new birth ; for 
it is, as has already been mentioned, the statement of 
our Lord Himself to Nicodemus ; and it is all-important 
to a proper understanding of His * 'Except," as it has 
been called, that the pathway to such an understanding 
should be cleared by this significant statement. It 
shows beyond reasonable question that He was not 
at all speaking of the necessity to be baptised ; for who 
by his own natural or spiritual powers, without the 
aid of revelation from heaven, as was the case with 
Nicodemus, could possibly perceive the necessity to 
be baptised, in order to be "bom again"? And how 
much more impossible was it to Nicodemus than to us, 
seeing that, at the time the words were spoken to him, 
the sacrament of Christian baptism was not yet insti- 
tuted! And yet Nicodemus was even reproached, 
because, being "the Teacher," or "Master of Israel," 
he did not perceive the primary necessity of a new 
birth of Water and the Spirit before that of teaching. 
Certainly, then, that new birth had no reference to 
Christian baptism, and was something properly within 
the knowledge of Nicodemus. In view, indeed, of 
what has been cited in multifold detail of the revela- 
tions to us by the instructed and inspired disciples of 
the Divine Founder of our holy religion, and with such 
supernatural harmony, putting clearly before us that 
we are now the children of God because of the redemp- 
tion of the world from Death and its consequent resur- 
rection unto Life through Jesus Christ; and in view of 
Jesus being expressly styled by them the Source and 
Giver of the Water of Life; — even as the prophets of 
old had also spoken of the Lord, the Redeemer, as the 



Renewed Life 187 



Fountain of Living Water; — there is less excuse for 
us than there was for Nicodemus for not understand- 
ing the necessity of the new birth of Water and 
the Spirit; especially as we also better understand 
why our Lord Himself repeatedly indicated water 
to be significant of His own Personality and of His 
especial Work as the Cleanser. In truth, not long 
before, it is carefully stated, even in His first 
miracle upon going to the Gentiles, or to mankind 
at large, how He suggestively changed the colour- 
less water of just six waterpots of stone, full to the 
brim, into a like fulness of blood-red wine, approved 
of as good by the one in authority; and how He 
thereupon offered it indiscriminately as a Free 
Gift ; or to all alike, to the evil just the same as the 
good. These waterpots were used for acts of sym- 
bolic purification, and in their number and fulness were 
suggestive of all that man could do for his own purifi- 
cation; and in their material and the colourlessness of 
the water as opposed to blood the symbol of Life, the 
restilt would seem to be declared ; indicating that man's 
works had left him dead as stone ;i just as was also 

1 In the number six, and in the "full to the brim," and in the 
lack of colour, there was a threefold emphasis, referring, it may be, 
to the failure of man to attain by his works Life, or Holiness, or 
Happiness. In the approval of "the governor of the feast " we are 
reminded of "the voice from Heaven, saying. This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased. " Here, like as in the flood and 
in baptism, "water" has symbolically the sense of Death; and 
in the baptism of Jesus therein it prefigured His baptism into 
Death; thus becoming the symbol of Him, and of our Life. Hence 
before the creation of Life the earth is consistently represented as 
covered with Water, with the Divine Spirit brooding thereon, 
causing at length "man" — all men — to be born typically of Water 
and Spirit. Hence, moreover, the great significance of "the ever- 
lasting covenant, " that "the waters shall no more become a flood 
to destroy all flesh" (Gen. 9: 15, 16). For the covenant is made 



i88 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



shown by the failure of the wine ; the need being there- 
upon significantly supplied by the Son of God. So, 
in the next chapter He tells the woman of Samaria of 
the living water to be given by Him for our unending 
Life. 

§95. The Supernatural Consistency of Disci- 
ples' Teaching. — It would be a marvellous thing, 
indeed, after hearing so much from the disciples, 
and with such supernatural consistency, and these 
mostly ignorant men, in the midst of a benighted 
world, and brought up in the very centre of 
bigotry and intolerance, and yet, every one of 
them telling harmoniously of the Free Gift of new 
Life to all men irrespectively through Christ alone, 
if, notwithstanding, we should have to learn other 
doctrine from Christ Himself, their great Teacher; — 
if in His teaching, namely, there should be no common 
justification of all men unto Life, and the Gift of Life 
should be not absolutely free, but strictly conditional, 
and bestowed only upon a few, who, being specially 
called, should heed the call, either by becoming be- 
lievers or by being baptised! To receive from the 
very God of reason, contrary to what the inspired 
disciples had afterwards taught, a system of doctrine 
whereby the dead should restore themselves to Life, 
and, by some occult power in their non-existent state, 
should render themselves immortal, and even beget 
themselves to be His children; and should do such 
mighty things, moreover, after sin had killed them; 
would certainly be a most preposterous, as well as 
incongruous, outcome of our investigations into the 

with "every living creature of all flesh," and is an assurance to all 
of Immortal Life. 



Eternal Life 189 



truth of scripture! Surely, surely, none could desire 
such a grossly discordant, unreasonable outcome, but 
the man who values his peculiar, partisan views above 
holy truth, the consistency of the Bible, the welfare 
of man, and the honour of God. What possible high 
motive or spiritual profit could there be to any Christian 
to have blasted for a single one of his fellow-creatures 
that "hope of eternal (seonic) Life, which God, that 
cannot lie, promised before ceonic times,'' ^ Should 
we not rather all alike be comforted with the assurance 
that Christ is indeed our Life;^ and that ''God hath 
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether 
we wake or sleep, we shall live together with Him?'*3 

§ 96. Eternal Life Has an Eternal Foundation. 
— ^Thank God! the hope of eternal Life has an eternal 
Foundation, and is not based upon the accidents and 
uncertainties of the works of the creature; but is **as 
an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, even 
entering into the inner side of the veil; whither a 
Forerunner for us has entered, (even) Jesus, having 
become a High Priest for ever after the order of Mel- 

1 Tit. 1:2. The translation is literal, and is one of the applica- 
tions of ^onic in the N. T. to periods with beginnings and endings, 
and (note especially) to periods here on earth, before the soul's 
final perfection. See Rom. i6: 25, *'kept secret in aeonic times"; 
2 Th. 1 : 9, "seonic destruction," i. e., the state of one exiled from 
the Lord's presence, or, not complete destruction, but that which 
continues for its seon; 2 Th. 2: 16, "aeonic consolation," i. e., 
while needed by those under discipline; 2 Tim. 1:9, "given us in 
Christ Jesus before seonic times." Jude 7 describes as aeonic the 
temporary fire which overthrew Sodom, etc. The spiritual fire 
of the wrath of God is eternal, but not its application in a given 
instance. 

2 Col. 3:4. 3 I Th. 5: 9-11. 



igo The Foundation and the Superstructure 



chizedek."! "For the Grace of God hath appeared, 
that bringeth salvation to all men. "2 For '*God our 
Saviour" is One whose will is unchangeable, and **who 
willeth all men to be saved, and to come unto a know- 
ledge of truth"; and accordingly Christ Jesus "gave 
Himself a ransom for all, the proof (to be) in its own 
times. "^ Such, certainly, both in respect of the sal- 
vation of all men, and of the manner in which it has 
been fundamentally wrought out, is the uniform teach- 
ing of the instructed disciples of Jesus. And their 
supernatural concordance in multifold detail, not only 
with one another, but with the sayings of Jesus Himself, 
has been in measure illustrated. And here let me call 
attention to one of these sayings, showing incidentally, 
first, that the re-begetting of all men into Life was 
being consummated at the time He spoke, or through 
His Life of Righteousness unto Death; and, next, 
that the deeds of men form no part of that regeneration, 
but have their reward thereafter. We read: "And 
Jesus said unto them. Verily I say imto you. That ye 
which have followed Me in the regeneration,^ when the 
Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye 
also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. And every one who hath left homes " 
etc. "shall receive a hundred fold, and inherit eternal 

1 Heb. 6: 17-20. 2 Tit. 2: 11. 

3 I Tim. 2: ^-6. "Its own times"; i. e., from time to time, as 
each soul becomes perfected; as we miight also translate, "in its 
■proper times. " 

4 Strictly "regeneration" or "begetting again." If we place 
the comma before, and omit it after, "in the regeneration," it 
would simply indicate the regeneration at the time not to have 
been completed, or not until the Crucifixion, and that (as in fact 
is said) rewards follow the ascension of the Son of man to Heaven; 
which is the logical order, although previously given, like regenera- 
tion itself, in anticipation. 



Eternal Life 191 



(asonic) Life." ^ That is, "he shall receive an hundred 
fold now in this time," the regeneration spoken of 
being now accomplished, "and in the aeon to come 
eternal Life. "2 And Jesus promised this of ''every 
one"; because all "in the regeneration" were to be 
regenerated; and unless this were strictly true, He 
would not have made the promise. And so all men 
have the new Life, through the regeneration, and are 
rewarded according to their deeds. If brevity per- 
mitted, it would be further confirmatory of the truths 
herein presented, to examine at length the other epistles 
of the New Testament with the same care which has 
been exercised in the case of the Epistle to the Romans, 
and partly also in respect of one or two others. For 
even the one-page epistle of St. Jude tells at the start 
of the Foundation of Christianity in "the common 
salvation," and of the dreamings^ of those perverters 
thereof, who, ignoring the absolute necessity to final 
salvation of all the fruits of faith in perfection, use the 
opportunity of renewed Life, to "defile the flesh,** 
"turning the Grace of our God into lasciviousness, and 
denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ."^ 
After thus impliedly reminding us how in various ways 
Jesus had said that the holy law of God was not to be 
abolished by Him, or that not "one iota or one accent " 
(one jot or tittle) should pass therefrom, "till all things 
should be fulfilled, " the apostle expressly illustrates 

i Matt. 19: 28, 29. 

2 Mk. 10: 29, 30 — "Ye are they whicli have continued with me 
in my trials." (Luke 22: 28.) 

3 St. Jude well styles them " dreamings "; for faith without works 
is an abstraction — an empty dream; and the same is true of the 
idea of justification into Life through the faith of the dead, whom 
sin has killed. 

4 See to the same effect 2 Pet. 2:1. 



192 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the condemnation of the ungodly as a Second Death ; 
putting us in remembrance how that the Lord, after 
saving people out of Egypt, giving them Life in place 
of Destruction, *'the second time destroyed them that 
believed not." And he further proceeds to tell of the 
fallen angels as imder ptinishment ''for a judgment of 
a great day/'^ And for an additional example of in- 
evitable judgment according to deeds, or of the Second 
Death, he mentions the seonic fire in which Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, were con- 
sumed. And so, he says, those who now abuse the 
Grace of God are ' ' twice dead, " — that is, dead under Sin, 
from which Death, however, they have been recovered 
by that Grace, and dead "the second time" imder 
their unpardonable Sinfulness; and in consequence 
receiving that Judgment of the Second Death from 
which there is no escape, but which will surely be 
visited upon them according to their deeds. 2 And 
in thus describing unpardonable sinners as "twice 
dead,"^ he uses in a manner the figure of our Lord 
of the corrupt tree and its corrupt fruit, styling such 
sinners "autumn trees without fruit." Moreover, 
showing that theirs is a Destruction in Life, or a living 
Destruction, and not necessarily of permanent dura- 
tion, he calls them ''wandering stars, for whom hath 
been reserved the blackness of darkness for the (i. e. 
their) aeon. " In other words, as behooves the fallen, 
they suffer "a judgment of a great day." And he 

» The literal Greek. 

2 St. Jude, like St. James, particularises, among the sins of the 
"twice dead," that, perhaps universal sin, of "shewing respect of 
persons for the sake of advantage. " (Jude 16.) 

3 For while wilfully continuing in sin, it is better for them not 
to have been bom again. The First Death is emphasised in the 
Second. 



The Christian System 193 



accordingly tells them, how even Enoch, only the 
seventh from Adam, had so long ago warned us, that 
"the Lord has come with His holy myriads, to execute 
judgment upon all men. " ^ And therefore, the apostle 
urges, that we should build ourselves up upon our most 
holy Faith, and also exert ourselves for the salvation of 
our fellows, according to our several opportunities and 
abilities, "hating even the garment spotted by the 
flesh, " or by the old man within. 

§ 97. JuDE Confirms the Christian System. — 
Thus does even the brief epistle of St. Jude, which I 
have only examined because of its brevity, and in a 
most cursory manner, confirm at all points the system 
of Christianity which is to be found in the Epistle to 
the Romans as hereinbefore set forth. In the other 
epistles that confirmation becomes even the more 
striking because of their more extended development 
of the essential features of the Christian system. Hav- 
ing then, through them, gained some insight into that 
system, and not only from the epistles just specially 
mentioned, but also from the others and the scriptures 
at large, and having had the system thus explained 
and developed by those who had received the personal 

^ Why is Enoch so particularly described as "the seventh from 
Adam " ? Is it a parable of the First Death, and of the final gaining 
of heaven? Seven, we know, is the number of perfection, unto 
which Enoch attained; and Adam, of course, is representative of 
the law of Sin and Death. — I may here remark that it is a matter 
of no practical importance whether St, Jude was or was not here 
quoting from an uninspired book. It is the substance of the 
revelation as to spiritual truth which the apostle was inspired to 
deliver, although he should at the same time, perhaps, be ex- 
hibiting both his own individual ignorance and by what weak in- 
struments, with a supernatural concord, God was choosing to show 
forth His profound truths. 
13 



194 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



instruction of its Divine Fotinder, and who had had all 
things brought to their remembrance by the inspira- 
tion of the Spirit, we shall now, I trust, be the better 
able to understand the immediate personal teaching 
of the Lord Himself, particularly that relating to our 
present subject, or to the new birth of mankind. For 
surely we should not presume to be, nor should we 
presume Him to be, at disagreement with the uniform 
teaching of His own instructed and inspired disciples. 
And if His teaching as a matter of course is in harmony 
with theirs, shall we venture to refuse that super- 
natural, uniform teaching in which they and He, our 
Master, are so pretematurally at one, merely because 
it is destructive (instead of being thankful that it is so) 
of certain interpretations and unwarrantable glosses 
heretofore put upon His sacred words by the teaching 
of uninspired men, however high, and exalted, and 
learned, and wise, and prudent? Rather, in fact, it 
was against the teaching of this very class of persons 
that our Lord has seen fit to put us particularly on 
our guard. And on the other hand, the Gifts of God, 
which have been vouchsafed to each one for his especial 
use and guidance, are always commanded by Him to be 
maintained in all their efficacy ; and these, accordingly, 
both from the Gift and the Command, have received 
for the individual a special, twofold divine authority. 
Subordinate only to inspiration itself, "the spirit of 
man is the lamp of the Lord. '* ^ 

§ 98. The Spirit and the Churches. — ^To keep 
that lamp shining in imdimmed brightness, and to 
increase the intensity of its light, were especial cares 

1 Prov. 20: 27. I Cor. 2: 10, 11, 15. Luke 11: zZ~Z^'i 12: 57. 
Ps. 119: 105. 2 Pet. i: 19-21. 



The Spirit and the Churches 195 



of our Lord. He accordingly tells us, using the same 
figure of speech, **The lamp of the body is thine eye. 
. . . Take heed therefore that the light which is in 
thee be not darkness. ' ' ^ And because He knew the ser- 
vile tendencies of men, even to the neglect of the Gifts of 
God, and what would be the increasing power over their 
souls of the churches. He points to these expressly as 
the most dangerous sources of error. Not content with 
what He had said upon earth, or through the inspired 
writers, even at last from the height of heaven, and 
among His last words to men. He would add emphasis 
to His numerous cautions. It is from thence that He 
bids us give heed, not to the churches, but to what the 
Spirit says to them. His command is, "He that hath 
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto (not 
by) the churches." And to make the emphasis most 
extraordinary, so that no obedient soul may fail to 
take note thereof, the command is seven times repeated ! 2 
It is an emphasis second only to the repetition for 
twenty-six times in one psalm (Ps. 136) of another 
generally unaccepted truth, to wit, that the mercy of 
the Lord endureih for ever. And take note with what 
careful particularity this wonderfully emphasised com- 
mand of Jesus is made to apply to every one without 
exception — ''He that hath an ear.'' He says in effect 
that just as freely and independently as God has 
given to each one his own ears, so freely and independ- 
ently does He require of each one the use of his own 
reason in respect of what he hears. And especially 
would the great Head of the Church have the individual 
use his own ears and reason in respect of what the 

1 Luke 11: 33-36. 

2 Rev. 2: 7, II, 17, 29; 3: 6, 13, 22. And see also 13: 9. Matt. 
11: 15, 25; 13: 9-16, 43. Mk. 4: 9-13, 21-25. 



196 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



revealing Spirit has said to the churches themselves; 
as though just there were the greatest danger of slavish 
submission to human influences or assumptions which 
tend to the subjugation of the private judgment. In 
precise accordance with His use of a man's individual 
eyes, as being the sure indication that they were given 
for the man to see all things for himself, He now draws a 
similar inference as to the hearing of the ears. And so 
therefore it is. He says, of the reason and the judgment, 
of which the eyes and ears are but the outer portals. 
In the number of the churches, seven, we have another 
spiritual indication of the fulness and universality of 
the application of our Lord's command ; or that it ap- 
plies to all churches, as well as to all men. No one of 
the seven is excepted — ^not even the much-commended 
church of Smyrna. In the interpretation, therefore, of 
what the Spirit saith to the churches, that is, in the 
interpretation of the Bible, no church is to be regarded 
as infallible; nor all of them together. It is, on the 
contrary, the individual who is made the responsible 
judge for himself of what the Spirit saith. The un- 
changeable Lord of all has declared a principle which 
is of permanent obligation, and is applicable to all 
churches and times, and to all that have ears or reason. 
In particular, He will not have a man through the 
traditions of the churches to be induced to make ''void 
the word of God."^ 

§99. ''Beware of False Prophets." — ^And not 
only in respect of the churches, but of the spiritual 
instructors in the churches, most consistently, Jesus has 
given us immistakable caution. In opposition to the 
high priest himself, as well as to the chief priests of the 

1 Matt. 15: 6, r. V. 



** Beware of False Prophets" 197 



Church, in His own day, He said to the common people, 
"Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what 
is right ? " ^ Could He possibly have made plainer the 
obligation of private judgment resting upon us against 
all ecclesiastical authority, however high? Indeed, it 
was against the high priest, and chief priests, and 
elders, that He was specially striving to guard the peo- 
ple, — even the "babes" against "the wise and pru- 
dent . " 2 But let us hear now another of His commands, 
and to all again without exception, and applying also 
to all churches, teachers, hearers, times, and places. 
He says: "Beware of false prophets (i.e. interpreters 3) , 
which come to you in sheep* s clothing. " For observe: 
It is the people, one and all, who are told to beware, 
and who are thus commanded of themselves to judge 
what is true or false in their spiritual teachers, no 
matter how legitimate may be the sheep's clothing in 
which they may teach. ^ Again : So universal always, 
as consistency requires, does He make the obligation 
of private judgment, that He takes especial pains to 
press the obligation home upon the humble and the 
lowly. With His customary emphasis of repetition 
He gives us two parables of the same tenor, ^ wherein 
the man who would not use his single talent or pound 
as freely and independently as did those possessed of 
more, has it taken from him, and is cast into outer 
darkness ; even as is continually happening to depend- 
ent, unheedful souls, before our very eyes. For in 

1 Luke 12: 54, 57. 2 Matt, ii: 25. 

3 In the Bible a prophet (pro-phet) is more often one who tells 
forth, than one who foretells (fore-tells). That is, he is generally 
an expounder, interpreter, and exhorter. Matt. 7: 15. 

4 So His apostle St. Paul, Gal. i : 6-12 ; and St. Peter, 2 Pet. 2 : 1-3, 
15-21; and St. John, 2 John 4, 10, 11. 

s Matt. 25, Luke 19. 



198 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



all the churches, to a more or less degree, authority, 
rather than argument, is apt to lead, and the people to 
follow; and the result becomes necessarily ignorance, 
and error, and downright inattention to what God Him- 
self has said in His holy word ; and the man who depends 
upon authority is veritably cast into outer darkness.^ 
The parable of the talents follows immediately after 
that of the five wise and five foolish virgins, in which 
the duty of each individual to procure his oil for him- 
self is strongly enforced ; and all servile dependency 
upon others in the matter of spiritual enlightenment 
is condemned ; and for those who so depend the result 
is here too declared to be — outer darkness. Thus 
then, over and over again, and in varied manner, our 
Lord shows the exceeding importance of the individual 
being equipped from within, instead of from without, 
for his great spiritual warfare against the powers 
of darkness; and of his learning at all times to de- 
pend upon himself. For it is obviously no way, by 
accustoming a man to the blind, abject submission of 
a slave, to educate him to be the Lord's freeman, 2 
and to preserve, ever imsuUied, his Heaven-conferred 
sovereignty of will, and sturdy watchfulness against all 
sources of temptation, however high, and strong, and 
overbearing. 

§ 100. Warning against Error. — Of each one, 
therefore, the duty is, to use most zealously and care- 
fully, and as independently as they were given, his own 
special talents, as entrusted to him, however humble 
they may be ; ^ and of all things not to be so set in error, 

» See Is. 29: 9-14; 30: 1. 2 I Cor. 7: 22. 

3 Mk. 13: 37. The command therefore is of unlimited applica- 
tion. 



Warning against Error 199 



or enthralled in slavery, in the face of the Master's 
will, as to put human authority, on any plea, however 
plausible, above the teaching of the Lord Himself. 
Rather, putting down the partisan prejudices of ''the 
old man," and, as St. Peter says, "knowing this first," 
or above all, ''that no prophecy ^ of scripture is of 
exclusive interpretation" — that, in fact, the interpre- 
tation is not private, but public and common — and, 
as St. Paul says, that "whatsoever things were written 
aforetime were written for our learning '*;2 let us, fol- 
lowing St. Peter's express words in denial of any exclu- 
sive right of interpretation, give heed therefore, as he 
accordingly directs, to the "sure word of prophecy," 
"as unto a lamp shining in a dark place "(a) ; and, pur- 
suant to what he urges in another passage, let us, "as 
newborn babes, desire the reasonable, imadulterated ^ 
milk that we may grow thereby unto salvation." * 
And following also St. Paul, let us remember how he 
says again, "Quench not the Spirit; despise not proph- 
esyings ; prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." ^ 
And still again, "Examine your own selves, whether ye 
be in the faith; prove your own selves."^ And, to 
give one more example, how he writes to Timothy, 
"that from a babe thou hast known the holy scriptures, 
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus. "^ For the apostles and 
sacred writers in general, on this subject, as on all 
others, are in accord with the teaching of the Master; 



1 I. e., teaching. 2 Rom. 15: 4. 

3 The Greek is unadulterated, or unmixed, — i. ^.,with the biassing 
interpretations of men, especially of those who claim authority 
to interpret. 

4 I Pet. 2:2. Si Th. 5: 19-21. « 2 Cor. 13: 5. 
7 2 Tim. 3 : 15. 



200 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



and these are but a few of the many examples both 
from Him and them enforcing the obHgation of private 
judgment. ^ For that matter, our responsibiHty in 
this respect is one which, do what we will, it is im- 
possible to avoid; seeing that whether it be exercised, 
neglected, or abused, or attempted to be saddled upon 
another, the act is entirely our own. And yet, when 
we consider the varying opinions of men in regard to 
the duty, and the opposing notions of most theologians, 
who are supposed, too, to derive their inspiration from 
the Bible, it is truly preternatural, that throughout its 
sacred pages, from the Books of Moses down, not one 
inharmonious text upon the subject can be found; not 
one of its many writers, and these of such different 
times and places, striking a discordant note. In view 
then of our heavy personal responsibility to judge all 
things, and to be judged for doing so of no man, 2 and 
recognising the solemnity and emphasis with which 

1 In the face of so many texts, or even if there were but one, 
how idle it is to discuss whether John 5:39 should read "Search, " 
or, "Ye search the scriptures"; especially as either rendering is 
literally correct, and even with the latter the search is impliedly 
commended. More than that, our Lord in the context condemns 
His opponents for not having been thorough in their search; and 
for not having interpreted the scriptures aright. And He con- 
cludes with this alarming statement, showing in clear light the 
necessity of searching the scriptures, referring in particular to 
those of Moses: — "But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye 
believe my words?" (Verse 47.) If we have not correct know- 
ledge of, and faith in, what Moses said, we cannot be true believers 
in what Christ has taught. The proper inference from this may 
be given in the words of Isaiah — "Seek ye out of the Book of the 
Lord, and read" (34: 16). Alongside the above statement of the 
Master, let us put another: — "If they hear not (i. e., will not search) 
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 
one should rise from the dead. " (Luke 16: 31.) So indispensable 
is the duty imposed upon us by the Lord Himself. 

2 I Cor, 2:15. 



Christ and Nicodemus 201 



that responsibility is so often reiterated in the word of 
God, 1 even from the time when Moses told us explicitly 
that, verily, ''those things which are revealed belong 
imto us and to our children for ever;" 2 let us con- 
scientiously be on our guard against all former pre- 
possessions, and now at length carefully continue to 
examine for ourselves the declarations of our Lord in 
His interview with Nicodemus. 

§101. Christ and Nicodemus. — ^The sacred narra- 
tive thus opens: "Now there was a man of the Phari- 
sees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. " My 
conscientious convictions put me so often in opposition 
to prevailing opinion, that, in general, it is a positive 
pleasure to find myself at one with others. But in the 
case of Nicodemus, in the interests of charity, and still 
more because of sympathy for the memory of a much- 
abused man, who was one of the noblest of the earth, 
and therefore from a sense of justice, I take a greater 
pleasure in disagreeing with all who speak harshly of 

1 It is the private judgment of a lady to the word as received 
which is enforced in 2 John 4, 10, 11. 

2 Deut. 29: 29. And the object, let us remember, is stated — 
"that we may do all the words of this law." For the evident 
purpose of the Bible is the formation of heavenly character. And 
therefore it would accustom men to the exercise of responsibility, 
that it may make them wary, and industrious, and self-dependent, 
and to be constantly developing the conscience. Such qualities 
as these, and a childlike, unprejudiced, teachable spirit, the Bible 
values more than knowledge, which, it says, "puffeth up. " And, 
beyond question also, to gain such qualities, it is necessary to incur 
the danger of error. The case of St. Paul proves that, when a man 
gains such qualities, God will take care of his intellectual errors. 
Let his heart be right, — which means, among other things, let him 
be sincerely desirous of knowing the truth, and therefore, anxious, 
industrious, and teachable, — and all will be well with him — far 
better than if he were merely the correct theologian which the 
devil is. 



202 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



him. Who was Nicodemus? A man of rank and 
power, and no doubt wealthy ; ^ — although I do not 
trust mere tradition for the fact, any more than for 
other deliverances concerning him; — and, above all, of 
the exclusive, narrow-minded, extremely bigoted sect 
of the Pharisees; moreover, a Rabbi, and a member of 
the Sanhedrim; nay, more, the ''master" or "teacher'* 
of Israel. This title given him by our Lord seems 
evidently to refer to an office; and the very probable 
conjecture has been made, 2 that he was one of the 
three officers of the Sanhedrim, who were the Presi- 
dent, the Vice-President, and ''the Master," i. e. "the 
Teacher." ^ At all events the title shows that he was a 
man of great public estimation for character, learning, 
and talent. He was, moreover, an elderly man, 4 or at 
a period of life when men are apt to be timid, and con- 
servative, and haters of novelties. When we put along- 
side of these environments the intense arrogance and 
exclusiveness of the governing classes of the church 
among the Jews of the period, we may realise some- 
what the opposing influences and hostile prejudices 
against rivals in the public estimation, which this 
humble-minded man had had to overcome, when he 

1 John 19: 39. 

2 See Cunningham Geikie, The Life and Words of Christ, i., 481, 
Am. ed. He refers to " Scholl, quoted by Lucke, vol. i., p. 527." 

3 Our Saviour's words as given in the Greek make Nicodemus 
*'the teacher." 

4 I cannot agree with the supposition that he may have been 
the Nakdimon Ben Gorion of the Talmud, a work not written 
until centuries after Christ's day. It seems to me (apart from the 
uncertain glamour of tradition about the contemporaneous ex- 
istence of a young person of nearly the same name) that when 
Nicodemus styles himself "an old man," or "old," it is conclu- 
sive on the question of age. A young man would have been more 
likely to say "grown up. " 



The Moral Courage of Nicodemus 203 



went to be instructed of one in the lower walks of life, 
and to acknowledge such an one as like himself a 
teacher, and with an even higher authority than his 
own. It was then, clearly, his superior broad-minded- 
ness and humility of heart, as well as the miracles of 
which he presently speaks, but of which his fellow-rulers 
had heard just the same as he, which brought him to 
Jesus as to a teacher sent from God. And he was open 
to the further conviction also, showing his teachable 
spirit, nay, he seems to have suspected, that the divine 
mission of Jesus was to be even more than that of a 
teacher. With an evident receptivity of mind, there- 
fore, and with an earnestly inquiring heart, did he 
begin his interview with the Saviour of men. It 
would certainly be a great help to me in what I have 
to say further on, if my readers should prove to be 
possessed of the same ability to overcome their pre- 
possessions, and the same broad-minded love of the 
truth, come from what lowly source it will, ^ as was 
Nicodemus, whom it is the fashion to traduce. 

§ 102. The Moral Courage of Nicodemus. — But 
the sacred narrative continues: "The same came unto 
Jesus by night." ^ Nicodemus was a brave, good man » 
or he would not have come at all. Well known as he 
was, he would have taken no chances of compromising 
himself ; nor, as would be very natural with one in his 
high position, would he have subjected himself to the 
scrutinising eyes of even the few whom he would be 
sure to meet with upon his visit. Had he been a timid 

» That is to say, if their heavenly character should prove to be 
as far advanced. 

2 According to the greater number of the authorities, "came 
unto Him by night. " 



204 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



man, but anxious to learn more of Jesus, yet, occupy- 
ing the position which he did, he would either have 
overcome his desire, or, with a little more boldness, 
he would have sent for Jesus, ^ and concealed his anxiety 
while before men, under a show of mere curiosity, or 
under the pretext that he would take knowledge as a 
ruler of the kind of man who was disturbing the minds 
of the people. But he was not only a brave, but a 
wise, and just, and prudent man. Recognising the 
measure of influence which he possessed, for good or 
evil, and what would be the weight of his conspicuous 
example, he did what every wise, and just, and prudent 
man should do, and especially those of rank and au- 
thority. He inquired privately, before he condemned 
or espoused publicly; lest he should either condemn 
unjustly, or should lend his name in the public eye to 
that which should be condemned. That this was im- 
doubtedly his motive is evidenced by the fact that 
when a public occasion arose on which it was in his 
power (humanly speaking) to be of service to Jesus, 
he boldly charged his fellow-rulers with being them- 
selves breakers of law, because they were condemning 
before they had inquired. And point is lent to the 
matter, too, by the sacred narrative inserting of him, 
immediately before telling of his argument, the ex- 
planatory phrase, "he that came to Him by night. "^ 
His argument is, however, precisely that which a 
sensible man would have used on the occasion, and 

1 Inviting Him to a meal, perhaps, as did the Pharisee Simon, 
and attentively observing Him. 

2 John 7: 45-53. The r. v. substitutes "before" for "by night"; 
but the phrase has the support of MSS. A, D, i, 69, 118, 124, 131, 
157, 220, the Vulgate, etc. ; and Griesbach inserts it in his text 
without an alternative reading. 



Nicodemus' Bravery at Crucifixion 205 



the only one, under the circumstances, which was 
Hkely to be of use to Jesus. And he seems to have 
employed it with boldness, warmth, and vehemence; 
perhaps even telling them that he himself had done 
the very thing (as his argument certainly implied) 
which he was urging upon them; and, it may be, going 
still further, and acknowledging himself to have been 
convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus. If he did this, 
however, it was not wise, nor helpful to Jesus, although 
brave, and what at the time no one of the apostles 
would have dared openly to do before the great, hostile 
council of their rulers. vStill, although he may not 
have gone so far as to lose his good judgment and tact,i 
and by the open avowal of his belief in Jesus have de- 
stroyed altogether his influence with his fellows, he 
unquestionably led them to infer that belief, and 
he was evidently very urgent and impassioned ; for the 
cotincil at once suspected his warm advocacy of the 
cause of Jesus to be not that of a mere impartial ruler, 
but of a genuine believer; and he in fact only averted 
the storm from his Master by bringing it upon himself. 
With bitter satire ''they answered and said unto him 
(the official teacher of Israel) , Art thou also of that 2 
Galilee? Search, and see that out of that^ Galilee 
ariseth no prophet." And the result was that the 
council broke up, ''and they went every man to his 
own home. " ^ AH thanks to the wise, brave, prudent, 
and good Nicodemus! 

§ 103. Nicodemus' Bravery at Crucifixion. — 
Indeed, that Nicodemus was capable of braver things 

1 As some inconsiderately assert he ought to have done. 

2 Literally, "the Galilee" ; the article here having a contempt- 
uous fling. 

3 John 7: 45-53- 



2o6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



than many of the disciples before their special inspira- 
tion at Pentecost was once more manifested at the 
Crucifixion. At the council of chief priests, scribes, 
and elders, which condemned Jesus, Nicodemus was 
clearly not present. It was a hastily gathered assem- 
blage at the break of day of the enemies of Jesus. We 
are expressly told of their unanimity, ^ and, of course, 
of the absence of every friend of Jesus. In the case 
of Joseph of Arimathea, for example, who w^as a coun- 
cillor, it is particularly said by St. Luke 2 that he did 
not consent to their cotmsel and deed. And yet Joseph 
had not been so open and bold in his advocacy of the 
cause of Jesus as had been Nicodemus; for St. John 
says of Joseph expressly, that he was a disciple, "but 
secretly for fear of the Jews."^ It was, we may well 
beheve, only those who were avowed enemies who were 
hurried together ; while the utmost care was taken that 
all those who were known to be friendly to Jesus, or who 
were tmcertain, should know nothing of the matter.* 
In particular, Nicodemus, who had been so able an 
advocate against them on the previous occasion, would 
of all others be kept in the dark. In fact, as the coun- 
cil had no power to put anybody to death, it did not 
need to be formally assembled. It was considered by 
the conspirators of the highest importance to have the 
whole affair managed with the strictest secrecy, and 
hurried through, lest some dreaded opposition should 
arise; especially in view of the immense enthusiasm 
which had been stirred up for Jesus among the people 

» Matt. 26: 65, 66; 27: i. Mk. 14: 64; 15: i. Luke 22: 66-71; 

23: I- 

2 Luke 23: 50, 51. s John 19:38. 

* The express covenant with Judas stipulated for a betrayal in 
the absence of the multitude. 



Nicodemus' Bravery at Crucifixion 207 

but a few days before. From what we know of the 
boldness of Nicodemus on every occasion where his 
name is mentioned, he would surely have been heard 
from had he been present at the council, or had had 
knowledge thereof. But the foreordination of God 
had fixed the time when Jesus was to give up His life, * 
and so His enemies were permitted to work their will. 
When therefore the end came, and timid apostles and 
other immediate followers (John, a somewhat influen- 
tial acquaintance of the high priest 2 apparently, alone 
excepted) were keeping in the background, and His 
many friends, including the women, and even Mary 
Magdalene, or all but His mother, stood afar, two men 
of wealth and rank, Joseph of Arimathea and the brave 
Nicodemus, seem to have been the first to become boldly 
and openly active. Aware at last of what was going on , 
but too late to be of service in defence, so soon as the 
crucified, suffering Master was dead, they hastened to 
give to His body, at least, all the respect, reverence, 
and protection in their power. Oh, what respect, 
reverence, and protection in return to the memory of 
the worthy pair the rich should especially give! for 
if, indeed, it be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom 
of heaven, here is the comfort of shining examples, which 
show that with God all things are possible. The brave 
Nicodemus has been abused over and over again by 
men all through the centuries, while less worthy men 
have been haloed as saints ; but God has sainted him 
on high with the halo of eternal glory. Some critics 
have even strained a point, in order to discover a new 
circumstance, if possible, in the sacred narrative, which 

1 John 2: 4; 7: 6, 8, 30; 8: 20. Dan. 9: 26. Hag. 2: 7, 9; with 
Matt. 24: 2, 15, 28, 34. 

2 John 18: 15, 16. 



2o8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



might tally with their slighting ideas of Nicodemus; 
and they have imagined that they have found it in the 
bare fact that it chanced to be the more timid, but now 
brave, Joseph of Arimathea, who incidentally is men- 
tioned first, when coupled with Nicodemus, in the story 
of the Entombment!^ Of course one had to be first 
mentioned; for the critics could hardly expect an 
attempt at a round robin, and especially where there 
were but two to be named. And very naturally, in 
the order of the narrative, the one to whom attention 
is first drawn is Joseph; for he happened to be the 
possessor of the new tomb hewn out of a rock just by 
in a garden. To his lot therefore it fell to go boldly in 
to Pilate the Roman Governor, and get the necessary 
permission to take down the body of Jesus from the 
cross, and place it in the tomb, secure from the beasts 
and birds to which the bodies of those put to death as 
malefactors were usually exposed. But the two rich 
men had evidently concerted together as to what each 
should do; and while Joseph bought the linen cloth in 
which to wrap the sacred body, Nicodemus procured 
the costly htmdredweight of rich spices. Emboldened 
by the rich men, "Mary Magdalene and the other 
Mary," and one or two additional friends of Jesus, — 
how many we do not know, — now gathered round, and 
while the women looked on, the body was laid in the 
tomb. 

§ 104. Unquestionable Integrity of Nicodemus. 
— ^To me it is a matter of wonder that the brave and 
noble Nicodemus should have been made a target for 
the arrows of Christendom. But it illustrates how 
sheeplike in all things men are, or what is the natural 

1 John 19: 38-42. 



Unquestionable Integrity of Nicodemus 209 



tendency of the old man within tis to be slavish and 
dependent, and to follow leaders, instead of always be- 
ing in touch with our personal responsibility of thought 
and conscience. Even men of great learning and 
ability often fail to serve the cause of truth because 
of this overpowering tendency. They will not hear 
the one only Master, who would inculcate the necessity 
of learning to think for themselves, when He says, Call 
no man upon earth your "master," or authoritative 
"teacher," or "father. "^ In an indifferent, thought- 
less way, the convenient, isolated phrase "came by 
night" was pounced upon, without pausing to consider 
what a fool, both in an earthly and a spiritual sense, 
Nicodemus would have been, if he had come by day. 
But it was a convenient text from which to evangelise, 
and all other texts of course had to be squared with the 
unjust assumption therefrom. And so they would 
hold Nicodemus to have been of weak and timid char- 
acter, not only because he came by night in the first 
instance, but also because in the council that would 
have arrested Jesus, he did not become imprudent, any 
more than on the previous occasion; that is to say, 
because he did not use arguments and make avowals 
which would surely have brought about, if not his own, 
at all events the arrest and public humiliation, perhaps 
scourging, of our Lord, or the very things which the 
noble councillor was striving to prevent. Instead 
therefore of doing as ungrateful Christians would 
thoughtlessly have had him do, like the truly wise and 
brave man that he was, he both preserved his great 
influence for good with the council, and boldly hurled 
at its members the one wise and politic argument which 
broke it up, and sent every man helplessly home to his 

1 Matt. 23:8-10. 



2IO The Foundation and the Superstructure 



own reflections. And so again, the same tendency to 
lower, if possible, our estimation of the character of the 
comer by night, manifests itself to an extreme degree 
on the third occasion when he is mentioned; — ^when, 
nevertheless, all that is said is worthy of the highest 
praise, and is calculated in particular to call forth our 
admiration of the man for his conspicuous courage ; or 
for just that same characteristic spirit of bold deter- 
mination in the performance of duty, which here also, 
as on the two previous occasions, shone forth with 
superior lustre, and which, one would suppose, could 
hardly fail of imiversal recognition. In this third 
instance, not knowing how else timidity could be even 
inferred, where there was conspicuously the bold 
resolution of inspiring leadership amid the timidity 
and confusion of the disciples of Jesus, his detractors 
assume him to have been emboldened by his fellow- 
councillor Joseph, or by one whose own natural tim- 
idity was such, that, imlike Nicodemus, he had made 
no show in the council in defence of Jesus, but, on the 
contrary, had shrinkingly kept his discipleship a pro- 
found secret up to this very time for fear of the Jews I 
But fortunately for Joseph, there had been no con- 
venient text said of him about coming by night, to 
be seized upon for the prejudice-inspiring sermons and 
commentaries. And so, such an one, whose genuine 
timidity has been expressly declared to us, is unthink- 
ingly assumed to have been the inspirer and leader of 
the bold Nicodemus! and on the miserable pretext that 
Joseph's name, as was most natural under the circum- 
stances, happens to be the first one of the two that was 
mentioned by St. John, when he tells us in due order of 
the brave and honourable deeds of both councillors on 
occasion of the Entombment! For the learned, and 



The New Birth 211 



able, and godly commentators and biographers and 
preachers who have done these things let me acknow- 
ledge my cordial feelings of personal respect. But 
for their own high reputation's sake I wish that they 
at least could have emancipated themselves from the 
warping prejudices of early education, and not have 
thus compromised their exceedingly good judgments 
and warm love of justice by such remarkably strained 
arguments against the character of the noble Nicode- 
mus. I am sure, upon reflection, they would be among 
the first to get out of this well-worn rut of thoughtless 
travel. 

§ 105. The New Birth. — For have they ever 
thought, indeed, that the one whom they thus disparage 
is the very first and only man whom Jesus early in His 
ministry chose to honour by imparting to him exclusively 
the great secret theretofore, and for some time there- 
after, carefully concealed from the apostles themselves, 
namely, that He was to be crucified as a common male- 
factor for the sins of men ? Think of it, oh ! think of it, 
good, respected men, all; the man whom ye reproach, 
the man whom ye even go out of reason's broad high- 
way in order to find some assumed cause for aspersing, 
is the one of all others whom Jesus honours with His 
most secret confidence! And perhaps it was even 
because Nicodemus was thus made aware beforehand 
of the coming catastrophe, and that it was sure to 
happen at last, and had had the knowledge of it so 
long before, even upon the word of Jesus Himself, that 
the blow, when it came, did not paralyse him, as it had 
done the greater number of the disciples. There were 
doubtless others present when the secret was told ; but 
it was couched in such parabolic language, and was led 



212 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



up to by such recondite reasoning, that only a keen and 
educated mind Hke that of Nicodemus would, before 
the event, have grasped its meaning. How many of 
us, indeed, with no previous knowledge of the cruci- 
fixion of Jesus, or education as to the wages of sin 
necessitating a new gift of life to the sinner through the 
life and death of Jesus, would have caught the drift 
of the declarations to Nicodemus, however emphasised ; 
— such as, ''Except a man be bom again," and, "of 
Water and the Spirit," ''he cannot see," or, "enter 
into, the kingdom of God"? and again, that what is 
bom of the Spirit is spirit, and of fiesh only flesh? 
Through and behind such figures, how many of us 
would understand the explanation of Jesus, that when 
He spake of being bom of Water, there was a spiritual 
meaning in the expression, referring to a Source of 
cleansing which was not to be found in material water, 
or in any works of the flesh? — a meaning of which 
Nicodemus "the teacher of Israel" ought to have been 
well aware: although, of course, he knew absolutely 
nothing about Christian baptism, which had not yet 
been instituted; — a meaning, therefore, up to which 
the Jewish scriptures had led, apart from Christian 
teaching?! How many of us would therefore realise, 
that no work of men, whether of baptism, or repentance, 
or faith, or conversion, could possibly cause us to be 
bom again into a new Life? Even if dead men, that is, 
those not yet "bom again, " could do such works, they 
could only produce results commensurate with human 
powers. They could not re-create Life. But indeed, 
when we regard men as still unredeemed from their 
non-existent state, and as absolutely wiped out of 

» Luke 24: 25-27, 44-46; 4: 16-21 ; 16: 31. Acts 17:2, 3; 18:2 8. 
1 Pet. i: 10-12. John 5: 39, 45-47- 



The New Birth 213 



existence, as is the sentence of the law upon sinners, 
where would be the workers to baptise or be baptised, 
or to repent, or believe, or be converted ?i And if it 
was thus first necessary to have life restored to the 
dead, then, until the sinners had been "born again," 
what would be the use of a Teacher sent from God, as 
Nicodemus had suggested, seeing that, until the pri- 
mary necessity had been supplied, there would in legal 
strictness be no persons to be taught, and no use in 
teaching them if there were? And how many of us, 
therefore, if altogether untutored in these fundamentals 
of Christian truth, and with only the parabolic word 
of Jesus before our minds, would have straightway 
caught the idea that the whole sinful world was to be 
"bom again," or "from above" (as is the primary 
meaning of the Greek), and first, by an act of cleansing 
which should take away the sins of all, thus abolishing 
mortality; and next, by a new birth or re-creation of 
their spirits by the Spirit of God, who is the only 
Source of Life; like begetting like, and the Spirit of 
God begetting the child of God; which, of course, the 
flesh and matter could never do ? And how many of us 
would have perceived, also, that the parabolic words 

» In our reasoning as to a condition of things apart from a Re- 
deemer and Justifier of sinners, we must not be confused because 
that condition has never in fact existed; for our reasoning takes 
into view what would be the strictly normal effect of the wages 
of Sin being Death in the absence of Grace, or what the Bible calls 
the state by nature; that is to say, as though the Lamb had not 
been "slain from the foundation of the world. !' (Rev. 13 : 8.) In 
such case, evidently, all sinful life would be wiped out of existence ; 
and so, there would be nothing left to restore existence, and cause 
the dead life to be "born again," but the Power of God working 
according to some method of Grace. In Uke manner. He alone 
must have become our Redeemer and Justifier to preserve in ex- 
istence the forfeited lives of sinners. 



214 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



were spoken of all who were needing to be *'bom 
again/* and that upon all alike who had died under sin, 
the irrespective God would irrespectively bestow the 
Gifts of Life and Immortality, as freely and uncondi- 
tionally as are all His gifts, or, as He intimates, is 
the coming and going of the wind ? Indeed, how many 
of us have imderstood these parabolic expressions of 
Jesus to this very day, and their free, unconditional, 
and imiversal significance? Certainly, at the first, 
they were not understood by Nicgdemus himself, for 
all that he was the master or teacher of Israel ; and his 
thoughts had to be quickened, without using language 
which would have been intelligible to the others, until 
he had clearly grasped the heavenly design of giving 
Life for Death to man, and by a mode as all-reaching 
as is the free coming and going of the wind. And 
how many of us also, before the Crucifixion, when 
Nicodemus at last had caught the idea of the necessity 
of the new Life, and we had not, and that to give that 
new Life was the true mission of Jesus from God, would 
have understood the words in which Jesus told him, 
but apparently no others (so at least that they under- 
stood), that the new Life would follow upon the Son 
of man being lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, — ^that is, to save people from 
Death; and that to be thus lifted up, or to die upon 
the cross, the only begotten Son of God had been sent 
into the world ?^ He thus darkly showed to Nicode- 
mus, that, as the children of men were a serpent- 
bitten race, so He, the Son of God, even the Manifester 
of God, and the only possible Redeemer and Justifier 
of men, had assumed the likeness of the serpent-bitten, 

1 Note : It is the reply of Jesus to the question why He had come 
from God. 



Christ Obscuring His Death 215 



to take upon Himself their sins, and die in their stead, 
and to die the very death by which at that time evil- 
doers were wont to die. It is probable that the ex- 
pression of a man being ** lifted up" was in common 
use among the people of our Lord's time to indicate a 
death upon the cross, even as it is several times so 
used by our Lord Himself; and just as analogous 
expressions to indicate our modem modes of capital 
punishment are in common use among us; and of 
course, therefore, the expression would have been more 
intelligible to Nicodemus than to us. 

§ 106. Purpose of Christ in Obscuring His 
Death. — But although in this way Nicodemus v/as 
greatly aided in arriving at the meaning of our Lord's 
parabolic language, and still more perhaps by significant 
gestures, and by greater amplitude of language than is 
recorded; still, we cannot but observe the purposed 
obscurity in which our Lord cloaks His ideas. He does 
not even use the first person, or speak avowedly of 
Himself, as the Son of God who was to do these things. 
But, notwithstanding, Nicodemus at the last very 
evidently gained an insight into His meaning; for he 
does not ask for further explanation ; whereas all through 
the first part of the interview, he had been most per- 
tinacious in his inquiries. Moreover, he in a measure 
implied by what he himself afterwards said, that when 
he had thus heard from our Lord in person, he had 
learned and understood what He was doing. His 
language was, "Doth our law judge the man, except it 
first hear from himself, and know what he doethf'*^ 
And it was because, indeed, he knew who Jesus was, 
and what He was doing, that at the last he brought at 

» John 7: 51. 



2i6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the burial the hundredweight of spices in His honour, 
even while danger was near, and the immediate fol- 
lowers of Jesus, who had not been so responsive to 
instruction, had abandoned Him. To determine how 
little, beyond question, on the occasion of the inter- 
view, the disciples (if there were any present except 
St. John) understood v/hat Jesus was saying, and in 
order to learn how long they were kept in ignorance of 
the great secret that their long-expected Messiah, who 
they were proudly hoping was to become a great worldly 
Prince, was to die as a malefactor, we will have to go 
to the sixteenth chapter of St. Matthew. In truth, it 
was in the last year of the ministry of Jesus, and while 
journeying to Jerusalem to die, and after He had per- 
formed almost all His most astounding miracles in their 
presence, including the suggestive, twice-repeated feed- 
ing of the perishing multitudes, all but compelling the 
disciples to realise His Divine Power, that He ventured 
at last to let them know, how, in order to burst open 
the gates of Hades into which sin was consigning our 
race, and to bring forth its great congregation,^ He was 

I Not "church," as we understand the word. Ekklesia, at the 
time our Lord was speaking in Matt. i6: i8, had never had that 
meaning in the whole history of the Greek language ; and this text 
makes the very first occasion that, at the arbitrary will of men, 
it has been rendered "church." Its true meaning was always 
congregation, assembly, or gathering, and it was applicable to any 
kind of gathering or body of persons; as in Acts 19:32, 39, 41, where 
it is three times applied to a pagan "assembly"; and here, where 
it means the great "gathering" of the dead in Hades. That is 
to say, in Matt. 16: 18, Jesus promises that the gates of Hades, in 
consequence of His death and resurrection, should not "prevail" 
against His creatures assembled therein, to keep them in the cold 
embrace of Death. In fact, in every example of the word in the 
N. T. it might better, and with greater clearness to the reader, have 
been translated congregation or congregations. In those instances 
where it was applied to a body or bodies or the whole body of Chris- 



Christ Obscuring His Death 217 



then going to Jerusalem; or on no errand of worldly 
conquest, but to bear suffering from the ruling classes, 
and finally to be put to death. 1 What was St. Peter's 
astonishment and even stupefaction on then, for the 
first, learning plainly of the terrible necessity of Jesus' 
death to give life to those who were otherwise the 
irrevocable victims of Hades, and would be for ever 
congregated within its gates! And yet, he and the 
others, imder the skilful hand of the Master, for over 
two years, not only in miracle, but in parable and 
allegoric explanations and actions, had had the truth 
suggested to them over and over again; so that it is 
even wonderful that some of them did not understand. 
But it was only, in fact, after the Resurrection, when 
the Spirit brought all things to their remembrance, 
that they perceived what had been the general drift 
of the teaching of Jesus. It was to the keener and 
more educated mind of Nicodemus, therefore, that 
Jesus first saw fit, in parabolic language, to tell of the 
lamentable manner in which His earthly career would 
close, and how He would thus save the world from 
Death, or cause it to be born again. The duller, 
illiterate minds of the disciples may have heard the 
words of the mystic dialogue between our Lord 
and Nicodemus, but in them the dialogue only bore 

tians, so to translate would have conformed the better to the usage 
as to the elder church, which in the O. T. is styled "the congregation 
of the Lord." As plain "congregation," the reader would the 
easier discern when, as in Matt. i6: i8, and the Epistle to the 
Ephesians, etc., the word ekklesia has a universal, instead of an 
ecclesiastical sense. In theological writings after the N. T., how- 
ever, the word came to be used almost, if not altogether, in the 
ecclesiastical sense, to the great prejudice of our judgment in the 
interpretation of the scriptures, and even causing such words as 
ecclesiastic and ecclesiasHcal to be therefrom derived. 
1 Matt. 16: 16-21. 



21 8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



fruit when afterwards they were inspired of the Spirit. ^ 
Then indeed we learn from the very apostle who nar- 
rated the interview of Nicodemus with Jesus the mean- 
ing of the Master's parabolic words. Says St. John: 

"This is He that came through Water and Blood, (even) 
Jesus Christ; not in the Water only, but in the Water 
and the Blood. . . . For there are Three who bear witness 
(i. e. to the Gift to us of Life), the Spirit, and the Water, 
and the Blood : and the Three are in the One. If we receive 
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. . . . 
And this is the witness, that God hath given us Eternal 
Life, and this Life is in His Son. He that hath the Son 
hath the Life." 2 

Thus at length did the apostle interpret the parable, 
which, when first uttered, required the mind of Nicode- 
mus to understand. For "the Water and the Blood," 
St. John declares, are in our Lord. That is, they de- 
note respectively His divine and human natures, by 
which, and by the Spirit, also in Him, we were all 
begotten into Life. In full accord with this explana- 
tion the acute mind of Nicodemus had earlier been 
led to discern the high spiritual character of the Water, 
and the birth therefrom, or ''from above," of which 
Jesus had told him. In truth, the very coupling of 
the Water with the Spirit, and in a Life-creating sense, 
aided by the emphatic explanatory remarks which 
followed, were well calculated to show to one of keen 
perceptions, who was well versed in the sacred writings, 
that the use of the term was intended to veil to a degree 
the assertion of a divine personality ; or that the Speaker 

» See the subsequent repetitions of 16: 21, and how little they 
were realised, in 17 : 22, 23; 26: 2, 20-29, 5^» 5^- Luke 24: 20-35, etc. 
2 I John 5: 6, 8, 9, II, 12. 



Supernaturalness of Christianity 219 



was not a mere teacher come from God, but, instead, 
was verily ''the Fountain of Life," — the Water of 
His parable, of which all men are necessarily born; 
and that to re-beget men into Life He had descended 
from High Heaven, and become Man, even flesh and 
*'blood"; that, being "lifted up," He might draw 
all men unto Him, and endow them with eternal Life. ^ 

§ 107. The Supernaturalness of Christianity. — 
But some one may inquire. If Nicodemus was all 
that I have said, and our Lord paid such a lofty 
tribute to his character, why did He not also make 
him one of His immediate disciples, and select him 
rather than the duller and more timid and easily 
disconcerted Peter for the honour of beginning the 
work of the new church on the day of Pentecost? 
The question is easily answered by the sacred page 
itself. Says St. Paul: 

** God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, that 
He might put to shame the wise ; and God hath chosen the 
weak things of the world, that He might put to shame the 
things that are strong; and the base (or, better, low-horn) 
things of the world, and the things which are despised hath 
God chosen, (yea,) and the things which are not, that He 
might bring to nought (or, leave altogether unemployed'^) 
the things which are : that no flesh should glory before God. 
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus; who has been made 
unto us wisdom from God, — both righteousness and sancti- 
fication, (that is, His righteousness has been made our 
justification before God) and redemption; that, according 

» And when perfected in belief, with eternal life in the highest 
sense. John 3 : 13-15 ; 12:32. I. e., they should no more continue 
"perishing," but be wholly blest. 

2 This seems to me to be the true, as it is the normal idea of the 
compound Greek verb. 



220 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



as it is written, He that boasteth, let him boast in the 
Lord. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not 
with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you 
the testimony^ of God. For I determined not to know 
anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much 
trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in 
persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the 
Spirit and of power: that your faith should not be in the 
wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 2 

§ 108. Wealth as a Bar to Christianity. — In 
other words, Christianity was to be proved to men to 
be a supernatural religion by its supernatural progress, 
without any extrinsic or adventitious aid from men 
of power, or rank, or talent, or learning, or great natural 
courage, or wealth. Nicodemus possessed all these, 
and was therefore, as likewise from age, altogether 
ineligible as an apostle, or as a help to the cause of the 
gospel. Indeed, there was another told of in the 
Gospels, who possessed only one of these disqualifica- 
tions, namely, wealth; but who was young, zealous, 
and able to bear hardship, while Nicodemus was old. 
And the young man was of im exceptionable morality ; 
and Jesus loved him, and would gladly have had him 
for His disciple. But, of course, here also the wealth 
stood in the way. And so, when Jesus looked with 
pleasure upon his physical and inestimable moral 
quaHfications, and perceived his anxiety to do the will 
of God that he might speedily attain the eternal life 
of heaven. He desired to have the one only obstacle, 
that of wealth, removed. We read: 

1 Or, as the r. v. says, "the mystery," following A., C, and other 
ancient authorities. 

2 I Cor. 1 : 27 to 2: 5. 



Wealth as a Bar to Christianity 221 



"And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto 
him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure 
in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and^ follow me. 
And his countenance fell at the saying, and he went away 
sorrowful: for he was one that had great possessions. 
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, 
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the 
Kingdom of God! " ^ 

Poor young man! What a glorious opportunity he 
missed of being one of Christ's immediate followers, and 
becoming perhaps another St. Paul ! But his wealth was 
the insuperable obstacle; and he could not give it up. 
And yet, because Jesus loved him, I love his memory, 
and feel in my soul that he has been judged too harshly 
by men. He did not have the revelation as yet which 
we have, that the One who bade him give up his wealth 
was the Lord Himself. And for that matter, how 
much of our wealth, if we have a superabundance, do we 
yield up to the poor, and sick, and needy ; and how much 
personal attention do we give to the cause of the Mas- 
ter? The disciples themselves had not realised as yet 
who their Master really was; and Jesus had even 
gently chidden the young man for giving Him a title 
which he should know properly belonged only to God ; 
or at least, had markedly inquired why the title was 
given. For the Godhead of the Master was too mighty 

» The r. v., after many high ancient authorities, omits take up 
the cross, and; and perhaps, the position of the words in the Greek, 
after, as it were, the sentence is completed, further justifies the 
omission. For the Greek thus reads: "and come, follow me — 
having taken up the cross"; as though the words were a marginal 
comment added to the text. But the words are in A. etc., and are 
admitted by Griesbach into his text. 

2 Mk. 10: 17-27. 



222 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

a secret to be indiscriminately told, and, like the other 
of the coming death, was screened from general know- 
ledge. The former secret would in general have been 
too coercive of the free-will of men; while the latter 
might have driven from Jesus the very followers whom 
He was so carefully educating into higher knowledge. 

§ 109. The Rich Young Man. — ^And yet both 
secrets seem to have been communicated to the noble 
Nicodemus, who had taken such voluntary pains to 
seek a private interview with Jesus, and ascertain who 
He really was ; and who had so come to Him because, 
upon the evidence which all possessed, he had recog- 
nised His divine mission. It was an honouring recog- 
nition of the old man's openness of heart, courage of 
conviction, sincerity, and zeal, seeing that Jesus, not- 
withstanding the great merits of Nicodemus, might not, 
consistently with the Divine Purpose, have chosen 
him for a personal follower. And we can readily see 
what an emboldening influence the knowledge would 
thereafter have had upon Nicodemus ; even as it really 
did, both at the cotincil and at the Entombment of 
Jesus. But while rendering justice to Nicodemus, let 
us not, as so many also do, judge too harshly the rich 
yoimg man, who, like the disciples themselves, was 
not thus specially honoured. That Jesus loved him, 
and would have had him qualify himself to become 
a personal follower, or one of His disciples, proves 
his noble character, and that he had, as he said, tried 
with great success to do his duty from his youth. 
How many of us can say as much? Nay, more: what 
one among us, with all our belief in the Son of God, can 
in a moment give up all that we have of earthly pos- 
session? If it be a question of faith, surely the young 



Rich Men of the New Testament 223 



man's faith, as demonstrated by his life, was greater 
than that to which most of us can lay claim. Oh 
that we could realise with St. James how little dis- 
tinction there is between our faith and our other 
deeds! And observe: Of the young man it was said, 
''One thing thou lackest." How, indeed, should we 
rejoice, if of us it could be said, there was but one 
thing we lacked, even if that one thing were the inabil- 
ity to surrender all that we had ! and especially as the 
great majority of us have that inability in full meas- 
ure already, and many other imperfections besides. 
But with us it is, fortunately, not indispensable to the 
Divine Purpose, as at the beginning, that the preachers 
of the gospel should not retain their wealth. Rather, 
we consider ourselves fortimate, if we can secure a 
minister who is possessed of wealth; for it saves us 
the necessity of diving too deeply into our own pockets. 
The yoimg man was not perfect ; and still less are we ; 
and the imperfect man may not enter heaven. But if, 
because of his imperfection, we dare to consign him to 
hopeless torments, what is to become of ourselves, 
who are not only not so good, but are even reckless 
enough to sneer at that pure morality which Jesus 
loved? Judge not then, ''that ye be not judged." 

§ no. Rich Men of the New Testament. — ^Let 
us group the rich men who became believers in Jesus : 
Nicodemus, and the young man, — it may be, partly, 
to save his name from vituperation that it has not 
been given, — ^and Joseph of Arimathea,^ and Zaccheus. 

1 If, as is not unlikely, the young man and Joseph of Arimathea 
are the same, we would have one more of the innumerable, sug- 
gestive groupings of three persons or things in the Bible, to tell us, 
as do also the innumerable number of them in the natural world. 



224 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

Though not rich myself, ^ I must confess, I love the 
memories of these rich men of the New Testament. 
And what a comfort they should be to the rich men 
of the present age! those whose riches, in turn, make 
it so hard for them to fight the battle of pure moral- 
ity, imselfishness, and love ; and who yet, in general, 
have not so great obstacles to encounter as had these 
four soldiers of God in intolerant, exclusive Judaea of 
old. Oh, if our spiritual eye could be opened, how in 
all likelihood might we see all four among the great 
multitude which no man can number, ^ or should 
attempt to limit ! — the yoimg man having learned at 
last to value his wealth as an ugly dream of the night 
of battle which is past ; and all four having personally 
built at length, as required, their several perfect Super- 
structures of Works, through faith and hope and love, 
upon that Foundation of Righteousness which was 
laid by the Faith and Hope and Love of God in the 
Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then might we 
also learn to love the moral man, as Jesus did, instead 
of sneering at him, or setting up ourselves to judge him, 
as though he had no faith in God, or part in Christ, 
or in the new Life which Christ has wrought out in 
behalf of all men alike; and as though God no longer 
rewarded deeds of righteousness, or called that faith 
which moved to such deeds the heathen harlot Rahab, 
or the sensual Samson, or the benighted, cruel, im- 
natural Jephthah!^ And perhaps we may learn to 
realise also that we ourselves, whether from this life 

of the three necessary salvations to man's perfection. But if there 
are four rich men, then is their number a special sermon to every 
rich man in all the four quarters of the earth. 

1 Or my chief book would have been published more than a 
quarter of a century ago, instead of being still in manuscript. 

2 Rev. 7:9. 2 Heb. 11: i, 31, 32. 



The Courtesy of Nicodemus 225 



or the next, ^ shall never enter the celestial city, although 
its gates in every direction are always open, 2 until our 
own morality, keeping all the time equal pace with 
our faith, shall be the perfect result of a perfect faith. 
For to the last there shall in no wise enter into that 
city any common ^ {i. e, unclean) thing, or he that 
committeth an abomination or a lie; 4 and never will 
there come a time that our faith can possibly become 
a substitute for our imcleanness. 

§ III. The Courtesy of Nicodemus. — With some 
better appreciation, therefore, I trust, of the character 
of Nicodemus, than that which the injustice of men has 
been wont to exhibit, let us, with the unprejudiced eye 
that I have desired, proceed with the consideration of 
his interview with Jesus. We read: "The same came 
unto Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know 
that thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man 
can do these proof-signs that thou doest, except God 
be with him." In thus, at the start, giving imto Jesus 
an authoritative title which was held in especial honour 
among his nation, we discern the courtesy which dis- 
tinguished Nicodemus. Not one of the Pharisees, 
except him, is recorded as having ever addressed Jesus 
by this title. And yet he says, ''Rabbi, we know that 
thou art a Teacher come from God." That is to say, 
there were others, notwithstanding, among the upper 
classes, who recognised the divine authority of Jesus 
as a Teacher, and who doubtless, therefore, were accus- 
tomed to ascribe to Him among themselves the title 

» Matt. 12:32. 

2 Rev. 21 : 13, 25. "God is no respecter of persons: but in every 
nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable 
to Him.!' Acts lo: 34, 35. 

» The literal Greek., ■* Rev. 21:27. 

15 



226 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



of "Rabbi.** And since Nicodemus was thus positive 
of the divine authority of Jesus as a Teacher, be- 
cause of the supernatural proof -signs, he was of course 
fully prepared to admit also whatever Jesus should 
teach. This was a great step gained, and put him at 
once in an humble, deferential, and receptive attitude 
before our Lord throughout the interview, and eager to 
understand and have thoroughly explained all that 
Jesus should say. In other words, he was an ideal 
seeker after truth, and just the one that is favoured, or, 
more strictly, rewarded, of God. Moreover, the manner 
of this introductory admission that Jesus was a Teacher 
specially sent from God, and had the proof-signs of 
the fact, carried with it the implication that He might 
be something more, and was evidently a sort of tenta- 
tive question put to ascertain what that something 
more might be. As though he had said. We know 
thus much at least of thy most extraordinary, super- 
natural character, but how much more thou art we 
know not ; and it is expressly to learn who thou really 
art, and for what great purpose thou art come from 
God to men, and what are thy divine claims upon us, 
that I am here; — even in the quietude of the night, 
when there are no distractions to prevent my gaining 
the fuller and clearer explanation. 

§ 112. Nicodemus Inspired with Wonder. — ^Thus 
far then the narrative shows that the wonderful 
proof-signs of a divinely aMhorised mission which 
Jesus was exhibiting had confessedly aroused the old 
man's expectant wonder; and that expectant wonder 
must beyond question ^ have been emphasised by 
the most extraordinary proclamations concerning 

» John i: 19. Matt. 3: 7. 



Nicodemus Inspired with Wonder 227 



Jesus of John the Baptist, whose character as a great 
national prophet had been generally recognised. For 
while all classes were paying the most profound 
attention and reverence to John as a veritable mes- 
senger from God, and were filled with admiration of 
his saintly, austere, and unselfish character, he had 
astonished them by pointing out Jesus as by far the 
more lofty Being, whose very shoe's latchet he him- 
self was unworthy so much as to imloose; and by 
declaring that as His mere forerunner, sent for the 
purpose, he was pointing Him out; that, indeed, all 
the daily sacrifices in the temple for hundreds of years 
pointed to Him ; for that in Him they beheld the true 
**Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world " ; and that he, John, had seen the spirit descend- 
ing upon Him like a dove, and knew, by previous 
intimation from God, that He was the One who bap- 
tiseth not with water, like himself, but with the Holy 
Ghost, and with fire; hence that to Him belonged 
the fan which was purging the chaff from the wheat, ^ 
and to Him also the wheat itself; and that His was 
the heavenly gamer into which His wheat when 
purged should be gathered; and that He also was 
the thorough Consumer of the chaff which would be 
separated therefrom; and that the fire in which He 
did this was imquenchable. Plainly, therefore, to 
thinkers like Nicodemus John had proclaimed that 
Jesus was one and the same with God Himself, and the 
great Judge of all the earth; and John had even said 
also in express words, that could be imderstood of all, 
that He was the long-expected Messiah, yea, the Son 
of God! 2 All these veritable announcements, and 

^ I. e., the old man from the new. 

2 John 1 : 19-34. So Matt. 3 chap. Mk. i : i-ii. Luke 3 : 2-18. 



2 28 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

doubtless many less authentic reports, were circulating ; 
and these, along with the common expectation at the 
time of the coming of the Messiah, were well calcu- 
lated to gladden the heart of the noble Nicodemus with 
wonderful anticipations, which even the recognition 
of Jesus as a Teacher come from God, or as being like 
one of the old prophets, did not evidently satisfy. 

§ 113. Purpose of Parabolic Form of Teaching. 
— ^Jesus perceived of course the earnestness of the 
request made of Him by the anxious old man as to 
the true nature of His divine mission, and rewarded 
it with a direct answer; but, because of those around, 
the answer was couched in such parabolic form that 
even the educated intellect of the talented Nicodemus 
was not equal to its comprehension. ''Jesus answered 
and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
Except a man he horn again (or, aneWy or, from ahove; 
for the Greek word has all these senses, and preferably 
the last), he cannot see the kingdom of God." It is 
not wonderful that Nicodemus did not understand; 
for the ablest Christians are not agreed as to the mean- 
ing to this day. ^ Some of them suppose that Jesus tells 
us of the necessity of conversion or of a change of 
heart; as though to give a mere message, which, too, 
everybody already knew, was a sufficient reason for 
the divine errand of Jesus, and of the wondrous proof- 
signs and attendant circumstances thereof ! Indeed, 
those also who deny the atonement are very fond of 
talking in some such simple manner, and would even, 
as an actual fact, make of Jesus a mere ethical teacher! 

1 Nay, they do not even understand that Nicodemus had asked 
a question, and that Jesus was making answer thereto; and 
are puzzled why the writer of the Gospel should say, "Jesus 
answered^ 



Purpose of Parabolic Form of Teaching 229 



But, as St. Paul declares, ^ even the pagans knew the 
necessity of loving and obeying the righteous God 
just as well as we; and it certainly did not need the 
Son of God to descend from heaven to tell us only 
that. All the old prophets had said it again and again. 
And it must not be forgotten that the object of the 
remark of Nicodemus was to learn the special mission 
of Jesus from God; — that is, whether He was simply 
a Teacher, like as were the old prophets, or (as the 
inquirer seems to have believed) something more; — 
and that it was this particular desire of His inter- 
viewer which Jesus was answering. Surely the special 
mission of Him who came to take away the sin of the 
world, and thus redeem it from Death and justify 
it unto Life, was not merely to tell men that they 
must be converted, or, in general, to be a Teacher! 
If such only constituted the special reason of His 
coming, why not, pray, have sent again a prophet? 
Or, in particular, why did not the mission of John the 
Baptist suffice? for he, indeed, was preaching repent- 
ance at the very time. And, verily, in order to mani- 
fest with all plainness the necessity of repentance, 
and that the coming of the Messiah, bringing the 
Salvation of sinners from Death, was not a Salvation 
from Judgment, John was solemnly declaring that, 
even though Jesus should become thus the Giver of 
Life, He would notwithstanding surely put the axe 
to the very root of the trees, and would bum the chaff 
of wickedness 2 out of men with imquenchable fire ; that 
instead therefore of looking for His coming in the easy, 
self-seeking, and self -contented manner that they were 
doing, as though they had nothing to fear from His Ad- 

1 Rom. 1 : 18-20. 

2 "The old man," or sinfulness, or the unpardonable sin. 



230 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



vent, but everything to make them happy, they should 
rather be fleeing from the wrath to come, and bringing 
forth fruits meet for repentance; and that that was 
the only proper way to prepare for the coming of the 
Lord, and of the unpardoning Holy Spirit whom He 
should send to them; in short, that they must realise 
His coming not to be to send peace to them, not even 
the peace of death, but a sword! Thus the teaching 
of John was, that in the place of the Death from 
which Jesus was to deliver men, there would be sub- 
stituted a Second sort of Death, or the strictest pos- 
sible seonic judgment according to their respective 
deeds; and that to indicate all this, he, John, was 
baptising them with material, cleansing water; thus 
making baptism by water the warning sign that the 
Messiah's awful personal baptising would not be a 
merely symbolic sign, like the human ceremony that 
the forenmner was performing, but would be, verily, 
along with the Gift of Life, a full judgment upon all 
sin and upon every sinner, even with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire. 

§ 114. John's Conception of Christ's Mission. — 
Evidently John made a wide distinction between his 
own mission to bring sinners to repentance and con- 
version, and that of Jesus. For not only in express 
terms did he point Jesus out as the Messiah and the 
Son of God, but he also represented His mission as 
so supernatural, exclusive, and important, that it 
even of itself necessitated no less than the awful, 
incomprehensible descent of the Son of God from 
His throne in Heaven. No suggestion of giving em- 
phasis to so plain a duty as that of conversion is 
enough to account for such a superhuman mission 



John's Conception of Christ's Mission 231 



in the slightest degree; and to represent Jesus as 
answering Nicodemus that that was the object of His 
mission, when He really came to give Life to the 
world, is utterly im worthy of the occasion. What, 
indeed, had John and the old prophets left unsaid, to 
bring the necessity of repentance home to us? And 
are not even the heathen, who have received no such 
emphatic messages, said, nevertheless, to know well 
this necessity, and in their evil deeds therefore to be 
inexcusable? ^ Nay, are not our daily judgments 
all the time giving the matter tremendous emphasis, 
making the whole world inexcusable? And is not the 
very attempt to substitute the faith of sinners for the 
deeds of the righteous believer, as men so glibly do, 
daring audacity before the God, the unchangeable 
God, who keeps incessantly sending His judgments, 
notwithstanding the faith; and, too, upon the so- 
called believers and the unbelievers just alike f Surely, 
if greater emphasis were all that was required, it could 
have been given in some awful, supernatural, uni- 
versally striking manner, rather than by the appear- 
ance of the Son of God as a man, and a poverty stricken 
man at that ! No ! the mission of the Son of God was 
not to be a mere ethical Teacher; and from what 
little even Nicodemus knew of Jesus, he had too much 
sense than so to think. And observe: our Lord was 
speaking of the necessity of a new birth on the part of 
men, or of something which Nicodemus truly said 
was out of man's power to obtain; and Jesus was 
telling of this necessity in answer to the old man's 
inquiry as to the purpose of His divine mission. The 
inference therefore is, that He had come to do for men 
what they could not possibly do for themselves; for 
» Rom. i: 20. 



232 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



a new birth means of course an entrance into a new 
Life ; so that even if Jesus had not thereafter expressly 
declared His mission to be to give Life to the perish- 
ing world, we might properly infer that such was the 
meaning of His declaration of the necessity of a new 
birth to man. 

§115. Baptism and New Birth. — But others again 
suppose that our Lord was speaking of a regeneration 
by baptism; those, namely, who are specially given to 
attaching superior importance to the visible, and to 
outward, material things in religion, and who are not 
content to regard the divinely appointed sacraments 
both as outward signs and memorials of that which 
has been done for man by the free gift or Grace of God, 
and also, when faithfully followed up, as means of 
special, non-compelling grace or help to the recipient. 
Their view of our Lord's words, however, is even more 
untenable than is the other ; and not only because it 
is not large enough in its scope, or not a sufficient re- 
cognition of the great work of Him who is "the Life 
of the world'' or the Redeemer of all men from Death, 
and whose great and special mission from God was 
by no means merely to give Life to the baptised ; but 
because there are the same reasons against their view 
as against the other; and because also it would repre- 
sent our Lord as doing a very foolish and unjust thing. 
It would make Him directly afterwards to remonstrate 
with, if not reprove, Nicodemus for not imderstanding 
Him, when more fully He repeats His declaration, at 
a time when, if He had really spoken of baptism, 
and the necessity of a new birth thereby, not a man 
on earth could possibly have understood Him, no, nor 
in all likelihood, even an angel in heaven. For that 



Baptism and New Birth 233 



matter no one can possibly understand the necessity 
of a new birth by a sacrament any more at this day 
than in the time of Nicodemus; however much, inde- 
pendently of sacraments, we may readily perceive 
the necessity itself of our new birth into Life, after all 
Life had been forfeited by sin, and we were as though 
dead under the normal operation of the law of God. 
The bare necessity is easily perceived. And we can 
perceive also that the new birth must be effected, 
first, by the washing away of the sin, and the conse- 
quent removal of its penalty, and next, by a re-creation 
into Life, through the agency of the Spirit of God 
as the great and only Life-Giver. And Nicodemus, 
**the teacher of Israel," who knew full well the wages 
of sin, could have understood this much as well as we, 
and should, indeed, have done so. And in fact, in 
accord with all this Jesus tells Nicodemus at once, 
"Verily, verily, I say imto thee, We are speaking of 
what we know, and testifying of what we have 
seen." But was it reasonable to have expected of 
him to understand regeneration by baptism f Was 
that what he had known and seen? Do, pray, 
let us use our common sense in this matter. Surely, 
whether regeneration by baptism be a truth or a 
falsehood, at all events Nicodemus, even more than 
ourselves, is blameless for not understanding its 
necessity, when we also to this day do not. For 
remember, at the time, Jesus had not yet fulfilled 
His divine mission, and the important Christian 
sacrament of baptism, which was to become typical 
of His death and resurrection, and of His washing 
away in His blood the sins of the world, had not 
yet been instituted, and of it nobody had even 
heard. 



234 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§ii6. Baptism before the Resurrection. — ^The 
only baptism which at that time was in use was the 
baptism imto repentance ; ^ a baptism which by the de- 
scending dove made manifest the Person of Christ ; ^ 
which also indicated or set forth the necessity of the 
works of men, or of conversion, and was preparatory 
to the public Advent of Christ; and which, therefore, 
because it told of that covenant of the law which He 
alone was to keep, and of which, accordingly. He assumed 
the obligations, nevertheless, with that supernatural 
consistency which pertains to all that Jesus did. He 
never personally administered. It was a baptism, 
indeed, which, apart from Christ, told of Death; and 
even with Him, as we have seen, of the Second Death. 
But the baptism which told of Life could only be 
properl}^ instituted after Jesus had died and risen from 
the dead, and when the Gates of Heaven were about 
to open to receive Him as Death's great and only pos- 
sible Conqueror. 3 The delay in its institution until 
after the resurrection was all-important, in truth; that 
so thereafter the sacrament might become a perpetual 
sign, first, that the Gates of Hades have been broken 
for all the great congregation of the dead, and that 
those Gates should be no more all-prevailing ; ^ and, 
next, that the Gates of Heaven also, after receiving 
Jesus as the first- fruit from the dead, should continue 
thenceforth always open in every direction, to gather 
in the mighty harvest of the redeemed, which should 
follow, 5 as fast as from time to time, under the power 



1 Matt. 3: 33. 2 John i: 31-34. 

3 For the Gates of Hades must first lose their prevailing power, 
before the Gates of Heaven could be open to men, and the Messiah's 
Work be accomplished. 

* Matt. 16: 18. s Rev. 21: 13, 24-27, Is. 43: 1-7. 



Baptism before the Resurrection 235 



of binding and loosing given to the redeemed them- 
selves, 1 perfection in each individual case should be ob- 
tained. A third all-important reason will be given in 
the next section . That accordingly Jesus Himself never 
baptised with water 2 evinces (in thus carefully refrain- 
ing from imposing upon others a ceremony, which before 
the resurrection was only symbolic of the covenant 
of the law) that it was not His special mission to 
preach repentance and the necessity of a new or con- 
verted heart, or in any wise to be a Teacher; although, 
of course, as was meet in Him who came to honour 
the law, 3 He was particularly careful, on the one hand, 
to declare the awful need for men to repent and turn 
tinto God, and on the other, as their Representative, 
undertaking to fulfil the law in their stead, was Himself 
baptised. In submitting to baptism, therefore, al- 
though He thus made Himself a Teacher by example, 
nevertheless, like others who were baptised. His pri- 
mary idea was in His own Person to fulfil to perfection 
the law of righteousness.^ And in His case He was 
specially doing this in the stead and on the behalf 
of all men, as an essential part of that necessary work 
of universal redemption and justification which re- 
quired the law to be fulfilled both as to its righteous- 
ness and its penalty ; and which demanded, therefore, 

1 That is, including, in respect of one another, of hindering and 
aiding. How little many dream, that the power thus given to 
Peter was representative of what has been given to each one, even 
the humblest soul; and yet, only two chapters after (Matt. i8), it 
is explicitly shown, and shown to be for the benefit of one another. 
And it is a fearful responsibility, moreover, as illustrated by the 
parable of the unforgiving creditor in connection therewith. 

2 John 4:2. 

' Is. 42 : 21. " It pleased the Lord, for His righteousness' sake, 
to magnify the law, and make it honourable" (r. v.) 
4 Matt. 3: 13-17. 



236 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



on the part of the great Substitute for sinful man, a 
perfect Life, quite as much as a penal Death. 

§ 117. Baptism after the Resurrection. — ^There 
is a third all-important reason why the institution of 
baptism should have been deferred until after the re- 
demption and justification of men had been procured. 
For baptism had always been the symbol of a covenant 
of repentance, denoting the duty of men to be perfect 
or clean. Its institution accordingly by our Lord 
after His resurrection, and His own work was done, 
was an explicit declaration to men that, although they 
were redeemed and justified, they were in no wise 
absolved from the duty of obedience to the whole 
moral law, but were expressly to undertake to keep that 
law, and in the full belief that they would be judged 
by Himself according to their deeds. Thus by the 
administration of the sacrament to each one of us in 
turn we are, as it were, personally told by Himself, 
that He did not die to take away our Sinfulness by any 
compulsory, so-called Grace, and that for any such 
removal thereof there can for ever be no sacrifice; but 
that it remains for each individual in all future time 
to work out his own salvation therefrom, and to fear 
and tremble before an unpardoning God in respect 
thereof, until he shall have attained to that perfect 
love which keeps all the commandments of God, and, 
so keeping, has no longer cause for fear. Hence 
baptism, as instituted after the resurrection, sym- 
bolises all three salvations, but in different fashion. 
First, it is given to us as a sign that the mortal taint of 
sin has been, verily, already washed away by the blood 
of Jesus, and the Gates of Hades burst open by His 
resurrection; or that all men have been by Him, and 



Baptism after the Resurrection 237 



by Him only, saved from Death. And next, in view 
of its previous significance, and being thus given to us 
subsequent to His own great work, it is made the further 
sign, that the work of Christ has not obviated the neces- 
sity for man to attain unto perfection by his own works ; 
or that the Sinfukiess, imder which we still labour, has 
of course not been done away by our Lord, but remains 
as unpardonable as ever; and, in consequence, that our 
Salvation therefrom depends upon ourselves. That 
is to say, baptism is a sign that the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin ; and that from the mortal 
taint this has already been done as an act of Grace, 
without the works of man ; and that in all other respects 
it is done upon true and perfect repentance ; so that 
there is no longer the old, abolished Death for any sin 
whatever, unpardonable or otherwise, but in its place, 
for unpardonable sin, the Second Death of Judgment 
according to deeds. Finally, baptism, being our Lord's 
last visible legacy to us, previously to becoming the 
Leader of His innumerable host into heaven, is thus 
made in the third place a sign that the Gates of Heaven 
also have been opened, or a sign of our immediate 
Salvation from Suffering, so soon as the Salvation from 
Sinfulness shall have been effected. It is easy to be 
seen, that an earlier institution by our Lord of Christian 
baptism would have thrown all this into confusion, 
and robbed the sacrament of its threefold significance ; 
and the more so, if our Lord had personally baptised. 
For should we then have seen so clearly, first, what is 
intimated by that careful refraining from baptising ; ^ 
or, next, in the sacrament, as instituted after atone- 
ment for men had been made, what He has done on the 

1 To wit, that it was His works, and not ours, which should 
recover from Death. 



238 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



one hand, and on the other what is required of ourselves ; 
or, thirdly, how that for Sinfulness, notwithstanding 
His atoning Sacrifice, even as our daily experience of 
His subsequent Coming in Judgment is continually 
showing, there is no pardon ? And who does not see, 
that in this matter of judgment upon the sinful, it 
makes no difference how much we think or call our- 
selves believers? Rather, judgment seems to begin, 
as it were, at the house of God, and the believers among 
sinful men to experience it even more heavily than the 
coarser natures around them. But if so, in view of the 
irrespective nature of the justice of God, as thus in- 
exorably manifested, what at last must be the terrors 
of the future for those who persist in their Sinfulness ?i 

§ 118. Place of Baptism in the Christian Sys- 
tem. — In reserving, then, the institution of Christian 
baptism by our Lord until after His redeeming work 
was completed, His evident purpose was to show the 
proper place of baptism by water in the Christian sys- 
tem to be after men had been first made alive, — that is, 
regenerated, — by Himself; that is to say, in the order 
of time, after He Himself had duly fulfilled for us the 
law of righteousness, and made His great sacrifice and 
propitiation for sin, and thus first Himself restored all 
men to Life by taking away the normal penalty of sin ; — 
in short, after He had abolished Death, and thereby 
caused the whole world to he horn again into a new Life, 
and purchased for them the Gift of the Spirit ; that thus, 
as real, Hving, moral beings, they might indeed be 
capacitated to repent, believe, and be baptised. It is 
the marvellous harmony of the Bible in all its minute, 
complicated, and desultory details, which demonstrates 

1 I Pet. 4: 12-19. 



Place of Baptism in Christian System 239 



its testimony to be supernatural. And so, with the 
same undeviating, superhuman harmony, because to 
all Life was given, not only did Jesus thus reserve the 
institution of baptism until for all the Life was gained, 
but then also, most consistently. He commanded its 
suggestive administration to all the redeemed; that 
unto all it might tell of the special Work and Grace 
of God in Christ, imassisted meritoriously by men.i 
And how beautifully and xmmistakably it tells of this, 
when administered as a manifest Work of Grace to the 
helpless infant! And yet, for the very reason that it 
tells of the Work of Christ, it is properly denied to those 
of responsible years who do not believe in Him and His 
Work, and who will not undertake to rear their own 
Superstructure of Works upon the Foimdation by Him 
laid. For the Christian system requires faith and 
sincerity of all things, and will not suffer any trifling 
with its sacred truths ; or that its solemn ceremonies 
should be used superstitiously as heathen talismans ; — 
that is, as though they themselves had a compulsory 
power, virtue, or efficacy, independently of the will 
of the recipient. 2 Apart, however, from requiring due 
earnestness and reverence in the administration of the 



1 I take occasion here to say, that in Heb. 9:14 we should render 
"apart from dead works" — "how much more shall the blood of 
Christ . . . cleanse your conscience (i. e., justify you, make you 
righteous), apart from dead works, to serve the living God." See 
I Pet. 3:21. 

2 How natural is such superstition is shown by the Faith-curists 
or " Christian Science" people of our own day, who have a book 
by the mere reading of which they declare men without faith may 
be physically healed! We can hardly look for consistency, how- 
ever, among those who spurn remedies for the renewal of health 
to the diseased natural body, merely because the remedies belong 
to the kingdom of nature, and yet daily eat and drink the nutriment 
of nature's providing, to preserve that body in health and vigour! 



240 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

divinely appointed sacrament, it would never do to 
vitiate or obscure the great Life-giving Work of Christ 
by causing a baptism by or of men to become the regen- 
erating instrument which must be superadded to His 
Work to make it complete and effectual, and thus to 
give Life to themselves ! Indeed, so far as the sacred 
record shows, and moreover implies, the first apostles 
of our Lord ^ never received Christian baptism ; 2 and 
yet, will any one say, of the eleven at least, that in the 
true, scriptural sense they were not regenerated or 
"born again"? It is enough that the institution of 
Christian baptism after the great work of regenerating 
the human race had been already effected, should 
proclaim to all in that regard the completeness of the 
Work of Jesus in washing away with His blood alone the 

i I refer, of course, to the twelve, or not to St. Paul. 

3 Surely a record of the apostles' baptism after its institution 
would have been emphatically given, if the sacrament had been 
intended to have a necessary regenerating efficacy to give com- 
pleteness to the work of Christ. Although their baptism would 
not of itself have proved such regenerating efficacy, still, in view 
of the vital necessity, if it really existed, the fact that they were 
not baptised, or that we have no record of their baptism, serves 
to show very strongly that the sacrament was not regarded by 
them as at all creative, but illustrative. Unlike others, they were 
the direct recipients of the command to baptise, but not to be 
baptised; and that they were not, or that the world was given no 
record of their baptism, points to the divine wisdom by which 
they were guided, to do nothing which might turn the attention 
of men from the sufficiency of the Work of Christ; which was one 
of the main things intended to be set forth by the sacrament. 
They baptised to teach others, but to them the teaching was un- 
necessary, and would have been undignified formality; but to their 
converts, and to all subsequent generations, the duty is of universal 
obligation; and the existence of the sacrament in unbroken con- 
tinuity through the ages assures each recipient, as it were, by the 
lips of Christ Himself, of the regeneration of the world, and of the 
other facts set forth in the sacrament; — in particular, that He 
will be with us and in us to the end of our "aeon. " 



Ignorance of Nicodemus 241 



sin of the world, or both of the baptised and the un- 
baptised; the sacrament thus becoming His continual 
reminder of the removal from all men alike of the 
penalty of Death, and of their common restoration to 
Life ; or that already in fact they have been ' * born 
again.'* And as thus given to us after the new birth, 
how clearly does its essential covenant of repentance 
further declare, that the necessity for the works of 
men to recover them from Sinfulness has not been in 
the least done away with, but rather is emphasised 
by that new birth. For after the Work of Jesus was 
done, what else could His subsequent institution of such 
a ceremony indicate, than the necessity, in order to 
perfect men, for their works to be superimposed upon 
His own, now that they have been endowed by Him 
with Life, and the consequent capacity to do spiritual 
work; or that in no sense did He come to abolish the 
law or the prophets, but to have them fulfilled both by 
Himself and also by men^ And in accordance with our 
daily experience, He thus declares, and in no uncertain 
way, that there is for all — whether believers or un- 
believers — a baptism of the Holy Ghost, enabling us to 
do good works, and of fire, if we do them not. Hence 
Christian baptism, like that of John, is again a prepara- 
tion for the Coming of the Lord ; but this time for His 
continual Second Coming, as the Judge of all the earth. 

§ 119. Ignorance of Nicodemus regarding Bap- 
tism. — Since then baptism was very properly of such 
late institution, and Jesus so consistently refrained 
from personally baptising, and since therefore, at the 
time when our Lord told Nicodemus that men must 
be born anew, or from above, to enter God's kingdom, 

1 Matt. 5: 17-20. 

16 



2 42 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



and, of course, to continue to exist in the universe 
where He is the King, neither Nicodemus nor anybody 
else had ever heard of the sacramental or typical cere- 
mony that told of the acquisition of the new birth as 
an already accomplished fact, it is quite clear that our 
wise and gracious Master would not have remonstrated 
with him because of ignorance of that which existed 
only in design in the Divine Mind, and of which Nicode- 
mus could not possibly have known anything at all. 
And much more would his ignorance have been blame- 
less, if baptism had been really intended to become, 
when instituted, the regenerating instrumentality which 
it has been claimed to be. What on the plane of the 
natural could he possibly have known of the super- 
natural, or indeed of such sort of a new birth, which 
was to be after a limited and ceremonial fashion, or 
for those only who should chance to receive from men 
an outward rite, and were so much opposed to a com- 
mon redemption? We are told by St. Peter, that 
the very prophets themselves who ''testified before- 
hand the sufferings in relation to Christ, and the 
glories subsequent thereto, " did not, although diligently 
inquiring, understand their own prophecies of the 
coming "Salvation" which should be finally attained, 
and of the "Grace'* which should open the way; and 
that into these things even angels desire to look. ^ And 
the general impression in our Lord's time was, we 
know, of a very different Messiah from that of one who 
was to suffer at all. Indeed, previous to the interview 
under consideration, it may fairly be asserted, that 
there was no merely human being whose ideas upon the 
subject were correct. 2 Those of the Church were, 

> I Pet. i: 10-12. 

2 John 3: 12, 13. Matt. 11: 27. Luke 10: 22. 



Ignorance of Nicodemus 243 



perhaps, most of all removed from truth. And yet 
the baptismal view of the words in question would make 
our Lord, upon uttering them, to insist, that Nicodemus 
should know beforehand not only all about th^ Suffer- 
ings, and the Salvation, and the Grace, but even about 
a Sacrament which should thereafter be divinely in- 
stituted, and that it should be a necessity, in order to 
effect the regeneration of those only to whom it should 
be duly administered! Much as I admire Nicodemus, 
I do not consider him to have been supernatural ; and 
therefore I cannot claim for him, above all others, such 
divine penetration and foresight as his detractors would 
demand of him by their sacramental interpretation, 
and as was not possessed by the old inspired prophets, 
nor by angels ! ^ Nor do I believe our Divine Master 
to have been so unreasonable as to have required it 
of him. For even if it were true, as must pursuant to 
that idea be held, that the great Work of Jesus was 
not a finished work, but required to be supplemented 
by the mechanical work on man's part of baptising, 
and thus, most incongruously, men, who before the 
law are non-existent, have their share, nevertheless, 
in the original acquisition of Life; and if, accordingly^ 
Life is gained only by the baptised, and the most 
exalted of messengers was not truly sent from God 
to become of Himself ''the Life of the world"; and if, 
therefore, the sending was not truly because of the 
love of God for all His creatures ; or was not what Jesus 
Himself explains in regard to His mission and, too, 
on this very occasion, and in direct answer to the 
questions put to Him as to the meaning of the new birth * 
still, since Nicodemus could have known nothing, how- 
ever diligent his study of the ancient Jewish scriptures, 

1 Eph. 3: 9, 10. I Pet. 1: 10-12. 



244 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



of this alleged regenerating power of Christian baptism, 
how, possibly, could Jesus, the Just One, whose perfect 
righteousness is our common salvation, and the veritable 
**Life of the world," which the partially administered 
sacrament can never be, have been so imjust as to 
assert that Nicodemus ought to have known before- 
hand all about the uninstituted sacrament, even in- 
cluding its alleged supernatural, regenerating power; 
and because, forsooth, he was officially *'the Teacher 
of Israel'*? Is not the supposition absurd, and a 
charge also of folly, as well as of injustice, against our 
blessed Lord? Alas, alas, for the spirit of ecclesias- 
ticism, which so persists, to the injury of the Church 
or people of God, in imposing upon the world its self- 
exalting inventions ! 

§ 1 20. The New Birth. — And yet, on the occa- 
sion of the interview with Nicodemus, it is plainly 
mentioned, that Jesus declared what He had said 
to be not at all about anything supernatural, but 
an *' earthly thing," — that is, something entirely 
within the compass of His auditor's natural imder- 
standing, and which he, "the Teacher of Israel," 
if he would but reflect, should certainly know. This 
shows conclusively that our Lord was not speaking 
in any respect of the sacramental baptism afterwards 
to be instituted by Him, and certainly not of its having 
unearthly power ; and the more supernatural we assume 
the sacrament to be, the more conclusive becomes the 
showing. And that Jesus repeated His obscure state- 
ment, and with the same peculiar emphasis as at the 
first, before proceeding to further explanation, and 
with the addition, in answer to the inquiry of Nicode- 
mus, of even more obscure words, to wit, that the new 



The New Birth 245 



birth should be **of Water and the Spirit, '* or by some 
cleansing and reviving process from God, to effect 
which, His visitor should infer, was His proper mission, 
or the one which really had caused Him to be sent 
from God, shows also, and most strongly, that there 
was something in that mission which He did not as 
yet wish the others present to tinderstand, and which 
He preferred at that time to communicate only to the 
educated and thoughtful mind of ''the Teacher of 
Israel." Our Lord, therefore, was not intending to 
reprove Nicodemus, but was only politely, but em- 
phatically, arresting his attention and stimulating his 
faculties ; at the same time, perhaps, giving some glance 
or gesture in respect of the others present, to intimate 
that His words were purposely obscure, and by way 
of parable. Had He been speaking of a new birth 
through baptism, there would have been no necessity 
for this caution, and no quickening of the attention 
would have given the best mind on earth the slightest 
inkling of what He meant. Who even at this day can 
see why a baptism of material water should be so 
strangely necessary to wash away sin, and cause a man 
to be ''born again," that our Saviour should have 
declared it '^must be" so; or why a mysterious power, 
so obviously supernatural, should be styled by Him an 
"earthly thing" which one should be able to under- 
stand? On the other hand, there was no difficulty to 
Nicodemus to imderstand then, nor is there now to us, 
that our Lord had been sent from God to give Life to 
the whole world, which God loved, notwithstanding 
its sins ; nor the necessity of the new Life to those who 
were under the law of Death by reason of Sin, nor that 
the new Life must come from God alone, whatever the 
manner of its bestowal ; nor, further, that the manner 



246 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



must involve the washing away of the Sin which 
incurs the penalty, and the restoration of the Life by 
the Spirit of Life. Thus much, at least, it is possible to 
understand. But even to have told thus much, pre- 
maturely, to the then narrow-minded disciples of Jesus 
would have been to let them know, while altogether 
unprepared for the knowledge, and while their carnal 
minds were filled with glowing anticipations of their 
own future personal grandeur in the immediately 
coming kingdom of their Messianic Prince, that their 
worldly hopes were but dreams; and although they 
might not have learned how, instead, they were to be 
**made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring 
of all things, '* ^ still they would readily perceive, that 
the divine mission of Jesus, as represented by Him, 
would bring to them no personal grandeur of state, 
and would not even be for the special benefit of their 
own nation, but was for all men alike. In truth, even 
after Peter had been the recipient of pentecostal fire, 
it required the vision of the sheet knitted at the four 
comers, and filled securely, therefore, with all manner 
of legally imclean beasts from the four comers of the 
earth, to bring him into submission to the world-wide 
spirit of Christianity. But such great facts as that the 
mission of Jesus from God was to cleanse the whole 
earth, and give Life thereto, and that God loved all 
men irrespectively, and that what He was said to 
cleanse no man was to call common or unclean, whether 
circumcised or un circumcised, 2 were the very things 
which Jesus was trying to impart to His keen-minded 

» I Cor. 4: 13. 

^ Acts 10 : 9-48. And whether baptised or unbaptised, or 
"believers or unbelievers. In Acts 10: 28, 35, 47, it is shown that 
men are cleansed and receive the Holy Ghost before baptism. 



Supernatural Idea of New Birth 247 

interviewer, without letting the duller intellects around 
Him, saturated with their worldly hopes, understand 
whereof He was speaking. Even the styling what 
He had said ** earthly things," — so perfectly true in 
the proper sense, so consequential upon human works, 
and obscure, if applicable to baptismal regeneration, — 
would in their then worldly condition have only lent an 
earthly glamour to their expectations, and obscured to 
them the more the real meaning of His parabolic words. 

§121. Supernatural Idea of New Birth. — 
Moreover, Jesus was about to answer also the inquiry 
of His earnest interviewer as to the special manner 
in which the necessity of the new birth was to be sup- 
plied by Him, namely, by His perfect life, followed by 
the death which belonged to a common malefactor 
upon the shameful cross. This was truly not an 
earthly matter which a man could understand for 
himself, but one which was supernatural, and could 
only be revealed to him from God; just as Jesus is 
presently to tell Nicodemus. And how then still 
more it would have endangered His cause to have 
His followers know of such a surely coming catastrophe ! 
how it would have scattered them to the four winds, 
each man in disgust and dismay back to his home 
and calling ! Nay, what afterwards was their amazement 
and horror, and how severely, in particular, Peter 
had to be rebuked, when at length the truth was told 
them; although better prepared for it by the wisest 
of instructors, and after they had personally seen more 
numerous and greater miracles than those which had 
attracted the attention of the more thoughtful Nico- 
demus! ^ And then, too, for the disciples, with their 

» Matt. 16: 21-27. 



248 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



exclusive, Jewish minds, to have learned in addition; 
that even the disappointing, although greater, benefits 
to accrue from the imworldly life and horrible death 
of their Master were not after all for the Jews only, 
or in any special sense, but for the whole world alike ! 
We are, in fact, so accustomed to revere the apostles 
of our Lord for their wise, noble, brave, and liberal 
conduct after the day of pentecostal inspiration, that 
we have no proper, realising sense of what it means, 
that God did purposely choose the base things of the 
world, in order the more strongly to set forth His 
own guidance of the course of events, and to show 
that the wise, and noble, and brave, and liberal deeds 
of these honest and sincere, but illiterate, timid, and 
at the first narrow-minded and worldly hearted fol- 
lowers of Jesus, by Him selected to become His wit- 
nesses to men, were truly upon a supernatural plane. ^ 

§ 122. NicoDEMUS Has Confidence in Jesus. — 

But while our Lord's own disciples were thus for a 
time necessarily kept in the dark as to the true na- 
ture of His mission, what a compliment it was to Nico- 
demus, that to him alone of his nation all these things 
could be safely told; and that, indeed, he should thus 
have become the first of men to learn from the lips of 
Jesus Himself the wonderful tidings of the coming great 
Sacrifice of the Messiah, the Son of God, of which the 
prophets again and again had spoken, and of which, 
perhaps, "the Teacher of Israel," by constant com- 
munion with the holy scriptures, was best of all pre- 
pared, and therefore best deserved, to learn. How 
appropriate, then, that this diligent inquirer, who was 
even giving the night, as well as the day, to earnestly 

» I Cor. 1 : 26-31. 



Nicodemus Has Confidence in Jesus 249 



seeking the truth, should have been styled "the Victor 
out of the people," as is the idea of his name. ^ He 
had searched the scriptures well ; he had not presumed 
to turn his back upon God's own revelations to men ; 
he had not neglected his own GoD-given reason and 
entrusted the gifts, which were intended to be used, 
to the keeping of another ; and so he was well rewarded ; 
the one alone of all the people to conquer so early the 
confidence of Jesus! Yea, and note well that, in doing 
this, he was the first of all to break away from the 
traditions of the Church! as though he had heard the 
voice of the Master saying to the people, "Yea, and 
why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" 2 
And now, is it not high time to ask, which one of us 
also can be like him, and, again heeding the Master, 
use for ourselves the ears which He Himself gives, 
and **hear what the Spirit (in His own holy writings) 
saith tinto the churches"? ^ Nay, what unprejudiced 
person, with a truly catholic, all-embracing soul, 
could wish the great purpose of self-sacrifice which 
was filling the heart of Jesus, and out of His love for 
the whole world, to be belittled into a mere talk about 
a sacrament to be thereafter instituted, however 
important, beneficial, and commemorative of His 
great Work that sacrament should be ; but which after 
all was to be of man's performance, and would not, 
as matter of fact, and could not, be administered to 

1 The more exact meaning is, however (for " people" is nomina- 
tive), "the people of victory," or "the victorious people"; not 
(as some say) "the Conqueror of the people, " which is unpleasantly 
ambiguous, and is not a suitable appellation, even in the mouths 
of his detractors, who would make him a timid man. 

2 Luke 12: 57. 

' Rev. 2: 7, II, 17, 29; 3: 6, 13, 22; 13: 9. Matt, ii: 15; 13: 9, 
15, 16, 43. Mk. 4: 9, 21-25. Luke 8: 8, 16-18; 11: 28, 33-35, etc. 



250 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the whole world, and could never therefore be as far- 
reaching in its beneficial effects as would be the Sac- 
rifice which He was about to offer for all men alike, 
and by which He only was to become "the Life of the 
world"? And where, pray, I repeat, would have been 
the necessity of parabolic and guarded language, if 
He were only talking about a sacrament? Let us 
rather keep in mind, that He will presently Himself 
explain what He meant, and in words which, however 
obscure they might have been at the time to the dis- 
ciples, are now very plain to us; how, namely, "God 
so loved the world," or not merely the penitent, or 
the believers, or the baptised, but the whole world 
of sinners, that He had sent His Son, "that the world 
through Him should be saved." Shall we take His 
own explanation of what His meaning was, or that 
of the theologians? Shall it be the wisdom of "the wise 
and prudent" among men, or shall we, who are "the 
babes," indeed, but God's own children, seek out the 
very revelations of our God Himself ? ^ Not that our 
Lord forgets at all those super structural things which 
are consequential upon the accomplishment of His 
divine mission. He will show in due time, and at this 
very interview, that His own Work is preliminary, 
and vitally so, to man's; and that the individual, after 
having been capacitated by Him with Life and the 
Spirit, and thus enabled to work, must become a 
believer, that is, be perfect in his deeds, before he can 
have the full fruition of the higher life of heaven ; and 
that meanwhile he will remain subject to judgment; 

» Matt. 11: 25. And see Deut. 29: 29. "The secret (or unre- 
vealed) things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things 
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, 
that we may do all the words of this law " (so revealed). 



Resume of Nicodemus' Interview 251 



just as, Jesus declares, the world, for which He was to 
die, was so subject ''already." Aye; for even with the 
creation the long day of "aeonic judgment" upon the 
world began. ^ 

§ 123. Resume of Nicodemus' Interview. — But 
let us not anticipate. Rather, for the clearer under- 
standing of the interview, let us proceed therewith 
in a more consecutive order. Nicodemus, let us remem- 
ber, had acknowledged Jesus to be a Teacher charged 
with a divine mission, and had impliedly asked Him 
what more than a Teacher He was sent from God to 
be; that is, whether He was merely as one of the old 
prophets, or what more. It is quite clear that Nico- 
demus was in a state of high expectation as to the 
mission of Jesus being of an unusually exalted char- 
acter, and to have relation to ancient Messianic pro- 
phecy ; and it is to this expectation that Jesus makes 
answer. How strange that our commentators should 
not have seen the question of Nicodemus, and should 
therefore have been confused by the words, ''Jesus 
answered* \f When they could not understand even 
that there had been a question, it is no wonder that 
they could not also understand the answer. In an- 
swer then to what Jesus was more than a Teacher sent 
from God for the instruction of men, Jesus begins by 
calling attention in the most emphatic way to the 
imperative and indispensable need which man has of 
the gift of a new Life through a new creation or regener- 
ation directly from Heaven, after he had lost the old 
Life by the mortal blow of sin. "Jesus answered and 
said unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except 
a man be born again (or, rather, from above) , he cannot 
1 Heb. 6: 2. 



252 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



see the kingdom of God." Now surely we of this 
generation know very well how continually St. John's 
Gospel sets forth the Lord Jesus as the Renewer of 
the Life of the world when it was under sentence of 
Death ; and that to effect such renewal was His exact 
mission to men. And in view of this, let the reader 
take notice, that the w^ords of Jesus are in direct an- 
swer to the question as why He was sent from God, 
whether to be a Teacher only, or more. On receiving 
this answer, which he does not understand, Nicodemus 
is, however, made more inquisitive and alert by the 
parable or figure of speech therein, and because of 
the emphasis with which it is uttered, ''Verily, verily, 
I say unto thee." He catches at the strange phrase 
"bom again," or "anew," or "from above," in which 
Jesus cloaks His idea, and, interrupting, asks for 
explanation. "Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can 
a man be bom when he is old? can he enter a second 
time into his mother's womb, and be bom?" Evi- 
dently Nicodemus had not caught at all the meaning 
of our Saviour's great declaration. 1 He is quite 
materialistic in his ideas; like those who at this day 
insist that Jesus speaks of a new birth through material 
water. 

§ 124. The New Birth and its Source. — But at 
all events his question, as was manifestly intended 
by the sacred writer, serves to call our attention the 
more strongly to the expression "bom again," or, 
rather, "from above," in our Saviour's answer. And 
what follows shows an obvious determination to im- 
press the truth upon Nicodemus the more, and through 

1 And yet his question in figure well indicates the impossibility 
of a sinner regaining his lost innocence and forfeited Life. 



The New Birth and Its Source 253 



him upon us, of the indispensable necessity to men 
of the new gift of Life which the expression denotes, 
and that it was ftmdamental, and required super- 
structural development, or involved not only the Life 
itself, but also its growth and perfection. For with the 
same peculiar emphasis as before, and also with the 
same, as well as additional, parabolic cloaking, *' Jesus 
answered. Verily, verily I say imto thee. Except a man 
be bom of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God." In this second answer, not 
only is the necessity of the new birth stated, but also 
the great Source from which it must of necessity, or 
in the very nature of things, be derived. The only 
Source is that of which St. Peter tells us ; that we are 
(i Peter i: 2) "elect according to the foreknowledge 
of God the Father by ^ (or, in) sanctification of spirit ^ 
through^ the obedience and the sprinkling of the 
Blood of Jesus Christ." (a) And in the next verse, 

1 Instrumental sense of en — a. v. "through." 

2 We have here implied the Spirit of God sanctifying the spirit 
of man; so introducing the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. In 
love, God the Father foreknows and originates the mission of God 
the Son, whose Life of Righteousness and atoning Death bring to 
us the sanctification of spirit by God the Spirit; thus causing us 
(verse 3) to be " begotten again (or, from above) unto a living hope 
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, " or to be 
born of Water and Spirit. 

3 7. ^.^ by means of, or in view or respect of, or because of (eis) 
His Life of Righteousness and substituted Death. In a similar 
manner the apostle addresses his Second Epistle, — " to those who 
have had allotted a common precious Faith with us in (en) the 
Righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. " (Compare 
verse 11 — "our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.") And in verse 
3 he says, " His Divine Power hath given us all things that pertain 
to Life and Godliness. " (In verses 8, 1 1 ; 2 : 20 ; 3 : 18, and in part 
in 3, the phrase " our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " is also given. 
In no respect do these phrases differ except where "God" is used 
for " Lord. " 



254 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



repeating the statement, the inspired writer says : 
''Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath 
begotten us again unto a living hope (not by material 
water, 1 but) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead." 2 Qr, as St. James expresses it, "Of 
His own will He brought us forth (begat He us, a. v.) 
by the Word of Truth." 3 And St. Paul says: *'GoD 
sent forth His Son, born of woman, born imder law, 
that He might redeem those who were imder law, that 
we might receive the said sonship (not, a. v., "the 
adoption of sons").^ And, in imitation of our Lord, 
the same apostle declares the new Life of man to have 
been "through a washing of regeneration, and a renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost," or, rather, "of a holy spirit."^ 
And inasmuch as, in these two passages and their 
contexts, the apostle thus proclaimed God in His 
mercy to have saved us, and the mission of the Son of 
God to have obtained redemption and sonship ^ for all 
under the law, that is, for all men, so, he consistently 

» I Pet. 3:21. 

2 1 Pet. 1:3. For "by the resurrection " the Gates of Hades were 
burst open, and ceased to be prevailing, and for the congregation 
therein Life was regained. 

3 Jas. 1:18. 4Gal. 4:4, 5. 

5 Tit. 3:5. It is literally "a renewing of a holy spirit," and 
may perhaps refer to our "new man," who cannot sin, because 
he is born of God, and not directly to the Holy Spirit, who effects 
the "renewing"; even as "a washing of regeneration" has a like 
reference to the regenerated, rather than to Christ the Regenerator. 
In either case, however, the divine Re-Creator is implied in His 
work, making the matter of no practical importance. 

6 The "new man" is not by adoption, but by re-creation, and so 
said to be "begotten" and "born." See §45. In Gal. 4: 5 "the 
said sonship, " as above translated, relates to 3 : 26, where the 
apostle had declared positively that we "are all sons of God"; 
and the proper translation of the article in 4: 5 is "the said. " 



Conception of New Birth as Spiritual 255 



told the idolatrous, unbaptised Athenians, in express 
terms, that they were ''the offspring of God/'^ And 
St. John likewise, in his general epistle, tells us all, 
"Beloved, now are we children of God'*; carefully 
excluding, nevertheless, the old man within us all, 
which knows not God, from that sonship; and con- 
fining it to the new man, also within us all, who ** can- 
not sin, because he has been begotten of God." 2 ^^ 
with the same careful distinction in his Gospel he 
writes, shortly before that Gospel tells us of the neces- 
sity to be bom of Water and the Spirit: 

" But as many as have received Him, to them (our new 
man) gave He capacity to have been born ^ children of God, 
(even) to them that believe in His name:^ which were 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the 
will of man (therefore, neither by repentance, faith, nor 
baptism), but of God."(^)^ 

§ 125. Conception of New Birth as Spiritual. — 
In telling Nicodemus of the necessity of the new birth 
of Water and the Spirit, we must not fail, indeed, 

» Acts 17: 28, 29. 

3 I John 2: 29; 3: I, 2, 8-10, 14, 24; 4: 7» 9. 10. 12-16; 5: I, 4, 
18-20. 

3 It is the past tense, conformably to the "which were begotten'* 
(or "born") immediately following; and to translate as in the 
text better shows this, and rids us of the future idea which is apt 
in this passage to creep into our minds; — as though we are not 
already, but are "to become" children of God. We might also 
translate "to have been made" (L. and S. on the past tenses of 
this verb). 

* Or to the sinless new man within us all, who only has ob- 
tained, and by his sonship, immortal Life; and whose part it is to 
destroy the mortal old man within us all, aided by the movings 
of the guiding Spirit of God, and the unceasing burnings of the 
eternal fire. 

5 John i: 12, 13. 



256 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



to observe our Lord's careful explanation, that His 
words must not be taken in a literal, material sense; 
or that He is not speaking of a birth from or by means 
of the things below, or in nature, but from above, even, 
as He says, from the Spirit of God Himself. He ex- 
plicitly declares that which is bom of flesh to be only 
flesh ; and the corollary is, that if water, literal water, 
could have progeny it would be only water; while 
with the same explicit congruity of reasoning He 
points out, that to re-beget spirit requires the Be- 
getter to be also Spirit. In other words, when God 
uses means, or does not act directly, but only mediately, 
the result is according to the means employed — no 
higher. Flesh begets flesh; and if, according to this 
law thus proclaimed by Himself, God used water to be 
the begetter, only water would be begotten.^ And so, 
the Spirit, or God Himself, without mere matter being 
an intermediary, must be the Begetter of spirit; and 
certainly, as the inference is. He must be the Begetter 
of the spirits which are the children of God. From this 
also it is plain, that Jesus was proclaiming primarily 
the necessity of man to be begotten , not simply ' ' again , ' ' 
as Nicodemus misconstrued His ambiguous expres- 
sion, but "from above." To be so bom would of 
course be a new birth, or to be ''bom again''; but it 
is not the primary idea. When we consider how very 
often metaphors representing the Redeemer as the 
Fountain or Water of Life, or of like tenor, are met 
with in the scriptures, and how repeatedly Jesus ap- 
plies such metaphors to Himself, 2 and that on this 
occasion He expressly declares what He says to refer 

1 That is, pursuant to the law of its existence, it cannot rise 
above its level. 

a As in the very next chapter. See John 4:14. 



Conception of New Birth as Spiritual 257 



to a spiritual birth begotten of the Spirit, and further 
explains His mission to be to save the world, — 
that is, not alone the baptised, — ^how much more 
consistent with the facts it is, to recognise that, 
as was His custom, He was using the language 
of parable; on the present occasion, by a common, 
and therefore suggestive metaphor, to make known 
to His keenly attentive visitor, and at the same 
time cloak from His tmsuspecting, and not so 
well-read disciples, what was the true nature and 
purpose and tragic end of His mission from the 
God above; this mission being the matter about 
which Nicodemus had asked, and to whose inquiry 
the sacred writer declares Him to be answering. In 
other words, how much more congruous with all 
the circumstances of the occasion to understand 
Him, not as abruptly introducing an ecclesiastical 
ceremony to be performed by others, but as speak- 
ing directly of Himself, as He was asked to do; an- 
nouncing that He had come from above as the great 
and only Source of Life ; that He was verily the Life 
of the world, and that through Him God would 
beget all men to Life,^ and that to that end, 
even to save the world. He was to be ''lifted up"; or, 
as we learn more definitely from the other scriptures, 
that in consequence of His mission from God, men 
would be re-created and begotten of God, with a new 
manhood which should have eternal Life; and, by 
His non -compulsory aid and that of the Spirit, that 
that new manhood should overcome the old, mortal 
manhood, and should never itself incur the penalty 
of Death, for the reason that it cannot sin; because 

» See I Pet. i : 3. Jas. i : 18. 
17 



258 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



it is begotten of God. ^ So very plain, indeed, does all 
this seem, that the great prevalence of the doctrine 
of baptismal regeneration seems only to be accounted 
for by the curse of a "strong delusion," even an "en- 
ergy of error," whenever, with the sheep-like tendency 
of the old man within, "the many" persist in follow- 
ing misleading leaders, whether ancient or modem, 
disobediently hearing these, or "the Church," instead 
of what the Spirit saith to the churches 2 and judging 
for themselves what is right. ^ 

§ 126. The Nicodemus Interview Paraphrased. 
— But to understand our Lord the better, let us give 
a paraphrase of His line of thought in what follows 
of the interview to the end. He may be said thus 
to speak: I have mentioned, in answer to your 
question as to what is my mission from God, the 
necessity for man to be bom from above. For you 
very well know, by observation and the declarations 
of the inspired writers,* the wages of sin to be Death; 
and that unless that curse be removed from a sinful 
world, man must perish forever. I have then indi- 
cated to you, that to gain for man a new Life I have 
been sent from above. This is my mission, which you 
have admitted to be from God. But you are asking, 
on the other hand, not how a man is to be born from 
above, but how he can be bom again of his earthly 
mother when he is old;^ confining your thoughts to 

» I John 2: 2, 16, 17; 3: I, 2, 6-10, 14; 4' 9. 10. 14, i7» 5- 4. 
II-I3, 18-20. 

8 Rev. 2: 7, II, 17, 29; 3: 6, 13, 22; 13: 9. Matt. 11: 15; 13: 9, 
43. etc. 

3 Luke 12: 57. 

* Such as Gen. 2: 17; 3: 3, 19. Ezek. 18: 4, 20. Mai. 4: i. 

5 The same word in the original has, let us bear in mind, both 



The Nicodemus Interview Paraphrased 259 



that which is on the plane of the natural. Instead of 
this, I would have you grasp in mind the spiritual 
necessity of a new Life to man which I have mentioned. 
And that I may turn your attention from being en- 
grossed by the letter of my parabolic words, or from 
the consideration of a birth which is not exclusively 
spiritual, and wholly from above, I have told you as 
the equivalent of what I had previously said, that 
man must be bom of Water and the Spirit. I have 
thus indicated to you how different is the necessity 
of which I am speaking, and how purely spiritual. 
For a birth of Water and the Spirit, as the equivalent 
of a birth from above, instead of suggesting an earthly 
mother, or aught else that is earthly, should remind 
you of the necessity of a cleansing from sin, in order 
to escape its wages, and of the additional necessity 
of a sinless spirit that is fitted to have perpetual Life; 
and how God above is alone able to do the cleansing, 
and how His Spirit is the Source of all Life; and 
accordingly that He is expressly called in the scriptures 
the Fountain of Life; and that, pursuing the figure, 
they represent the Water of Life as flowing only from 
Him.i Thus while you are thinking only of that 

the senses of from above and again, or anew (see margins of a. v. 
and r. v.). The former is the sense as used by Jesus, and the latter 
as used by Nicodemus. This ambiguity tends to increase the 
misconception of Nicodemus; and so Jesus proceeds to explain 
that He was not speaking of things born of flesh, but of the Spirit, 
and of that also which one familiar with the scriptures very well 
knows. For "from above, " the normal idea, see John 3 : 3 1 ; 1 9 : 31. 
Jas. i: 17; 3: 15, 17. 

1 Deut, 33: 28. Ps. 36: 8, 9; 46: 4; 68: 26; 114: 8. Jer. 2: 13 
15: 18; 17: 7,8, 13; 18: 14, 15; 31: 9. Is. 12: 2, 3; 32: 2; 35: 4-7 
41: 17, 18; 43: 19-21; 44: 3; 48:1, 2; 49: 10; 55: I. Zech. 12: 10 
13: i; 14: 8, 9. Joel 2: 28, 29; 3: 18. Ezek. 16: 4-9; 17: 2, 8 
^6: 25-27; 39: 29; 47: 9. And see also the application of the 



26o The Foundation and the Superstructure 



which is bom of flesh, I am seeking to direct your 
thoughts to the necessity for man to be bom of, or 
receive new Life from, God above, in order to escape 
the curse of Death which is overhanging the world. 
You must first recognise clearly this necessity, which 
is within the compass of your earthly powers, before 
having pointed out to you how the curse is to be 
removed, which is outside your natural powers to 
ascertain for yourself, i 

§ 127. Emphasis on Idea op "Begotten from 
Above." — Interrupting for a moment our paraphrase 
at this point, let us endeavour to appreciate how ear- 
nestly Jesus would have all who have sinned realise 
the necessity of being ''begotten from above,'' and 
how He admonishes them against perverting the 
phrase by Him at the first employed, or His amplifi- 
cation of the same into ** begotten of Water and the 
Spirit,** by making His words to mean in any respect a 
necessity of being "begotten from below,'' or through 
the acts of men using material instrumentalities. St. 
Paul was a true follower of the Master when the 
apostle insisted that salvation from Death and justi- 
fication imto Life were not at all the result of the 
works of sinners, but were solely due to "the Righteous- 
metaphor by our Lord to Himself in John 2 : i-ii ; 4 : 10, 13, 14, 42 ; 
^- 35» S3~56; 7: 37-39- R^v. 22: I, 12; 21: 6. And note the 
expression that He bapHseth with the Holy Ghost. So the figure 
of the Rock in the wilderness, giving forth the Water of Life when 
smitten, is an example of many similar incidents wherein there is 
an analagous use of Water; and the sacred writings contain many 
other allusions thereto of analogous import. 

1 "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the 
earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh : He that cometh 
from heaven is above all." John 3:31. 



Supernatural and Spiritual Regeneration 261 



ness of God through the Faith of Jesus Christ. ' ' Plainly 
Jesus corrected the misinterpretation which would 
have Him intend a birth in any way through flesh, 
or any acts of flesh, and much more through mere 
matter. Plainly He pointed out, that that which is 
of the earth is necessarily earthly, and can have no 
higher level; while what He had said referred to a 
birth of spirit, which must be exclusively effected 
by the Spirit of God. Plainly therefore His words 
have an opposing and condemning application to 
the low, materialistic view which would have the 
works of men, using material water, to have a part 
in spiritual regeneration, or in the restoration of 
men to Life. Such a view is even worse than that 
against which St. Paul contended; for in his ar- 
gument the inefficient Works were the keeping of 
the whole moral law by the sinner upon his re- 
pentance; but this lower view would make regener- 
ation to be accomplished merely through a cere- 
mony! It is the lowest possible view, apparently, 
which could be held upon the subject, and the most 
materialistic. 

§ 128. Supernatural and Spiritual Regenera- 
tion. — ^And just here, let me say briefly, once for all, 
that the upholders of this very low, materialistic view 
must not try to dodge the authoritative declarations of 
Jesus as to man's regeneration from above, by imag- 
ining a distinction between the salvation from Death 
of all men, or between also their justification, on the 
one hand, and baptismal regeneration on the other; 
for if men, after being dead in law because of sin, are 
saved from Death, or if they are justified so as to be 
permitted to live in the pure atmosphere of God's 



262 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



omnipresence, then have they attained a new, per- 
petual Life; that is, spiritually speaking, are bom 
again; which is, plainly, regeneration; and the only 
question which remains is, by whom, and through 
what means, it is effected. And it was just this regen- 
eration, no other, of which Jesus was speaking to 
Nicodemus, or, as He Himself soon after explains 
thereof, of His being sent from God to save the world. 
And so, to continue our paraphrase, having corrected 
His auditor's misunderstanding as to the regeneration 
intended, and shown that it was only the Spirit of 
God which should beget the children of God, — ^that is, 
after His own mission from God had opened the way, — 
Jesus thus proceeds: 

Marvel not that I said unto thee (Nicodemus) , Ye (sinners) 
must he born from above. Neither marvel that thou canst 
not understand the manner of the birth. For even because 
it is from above, it is not to be understood by those who 
are below; by those, indeed, who do not understand by 
any means all the things even of the earth upon which they 
dwell; and who therefore cannot expect to understand 
the things of heaven where they are not. For consider: 
The wind is all around thee, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, and feelest it fanning thy cheek; and yet, in thy 
day and generation, thou canst not tell whence it comet h, 
and whither it goeth. Like the God above, its apparent 
life is invisible, and not fully comprehensible. So is the 
birth of every one that is born of the Spirit. If then thou 
canst not understand an earthly thing, even the coming 
and going of the wind right about thee, how canst thou 
presume to find out for thyself, occupying as thou dost 
the low plane of nature, a heavenly thing, even that which 
is supernatural, or from above, and the effecting of which 
pertains altogether to the Spirit of the invisible, incom- 
prehensible God; of that God in respect of whom we 



' How Can These Things Be?" 263 



must needs accept that which is revealed, and can know 
nothing more ?^ 

§ 129. ''How CAN THESE THINGS Be?" ^All this, 

of course, is paraphrase, and was not plainly expressed 
in words; because, let us remember, our Lord was 
purposely darkening His words, lest His disciples 
should be offended, and alienated from Him, upon 
learning that He was not to be the great earthly Mes- 
siah of their expectations. Indeed, His concise and 
parabolic method of speaking seems at first to have 
been too obscure even for the keen-minded and learned 
Nicodemus himself, and in a mystified manner he mur- 
murs again, ''How can these things be?" He is so 
preoccupied as to the manner how a man can be bom 
the second time, that he fails to grasp the primary 
thought which Jesus was presenting, and to which He 
would first limit his attention, namely, the spiritual 
necessity of a new Life being obtained for man from 
God above. It became requisite, therefore, to get him 
out of this rut in which his thoughts were travelling; 
and to this end Jesus reminds him of the spiritual 
office which His visitor held among the Jews, and 
which, along with his talents and attainments, caused 
him to be regarded by his countrymen as a master 
in spiritual things. Our Lord rejoins: ''Art thou the 
Teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things?" 
There was no better way to divert the preoccupied 
mind of Nicodemus from the sensual realm of matter 
to the purely scriptural and spiritual statement which 
Jesus was making. It showed that statement to have 
in it nothing novel or extraordinary, but to be simply 
one which a man so well versed in the scriptures as 

1 Deut. 29: 29. 



264 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



was His learned auditor should know already. Still 
further to assure him of this, Jesus continues : 

Truly, truly, I say unto thee, we are not talking 
about impossible things of the natural world which you 
cannot understand, and with all reason say so; but we 
are talking about an obvious necessity to man which 
we very well know, and are testifying to that which 
we have seen ; for our senses are making evident to us 
every day the wickedness of men, and we know the 
inevitable result, if not remedied from above; and 
therefore in this matter you are not receiving our own 
personal testimony. For I have spoken only of ordin- 
ary earthly things — that is, of things which are tran- 
spiring in the knowledge of men upon the earth, and are 
really within the compass of your earthly powers 
to understand, and are right before your eyes; not 
at all of impossibilities on the plane of the natural, 
one of which has so preoccupied your mind.^ 

§130. Necessity of New Birth. — In regard 
then to the necessity of the new birth about which I 
am now speaking, do not let your thoughts be beguiled 
away for the moment from that necessity. I shall 
presently reveal to you in a general way the manner 
thereof, and, in doing so, answer more fully your 
question as to my mission from God. For, since my 
mission, as you confess, is from above, and the effect- 
ing of the new birth through my mission is, as declared 

1 Evidently therefore of no baptism of earthly water; for a new, 
spiritual Life, or the necessity thereof, through such a material 
instrumentality — i. e., so-called baptismal regeneration by the 
Works of men — was certainly not a thing which Jesus could 
appeal to as that which Nicodemus should have known and under- 
stood as a matter of course. 



Necessity of New Birth 265 

by me, also from above, the manner thereof pertains 
to heavenly things which belong solely to God; which 
man could never find out for himself, nor understand in 
its fulness when he is told; which therefore can only 
be known by man in so far as it may be revealed to 
him. But it is not of things of that heavenly char- 
acter that I spoke as I did, nor even, as yet, of so 
much thereof as concerns the execution of my mission 
upon earth in the sight of men. Of this latter I shall 
inform you briefly before I am through; but I would 
first prepare you to accept upon faith all that I shall 
presently reveal in that regard ; enough to show God's 
wonderful, unchangeable love for the world; a world 
now imder sentence of Death, and needing therefore, 
as I have stated, to be bom from above; that is, I 
repeat, needing to be cleansed by the great Fountain 
or Water of Life above, and, in addition, to have be- 
gotten in every individual by the Spirit a new, sinless 
Life. Now these are things which are declared in the 
scriptures, and are within the reach of the earthly 
understanding, and which, moreover, you should 
accept also upon my authority, seeing that you admit 
that authority to be from God, and to be attested by 
supernatural miracles. I would have you then first 
realize man's great fundamental necessity, before I 
answer your repeated questions as to how the neces- 
sity is to be supplied. For if I have told you earthly 
things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, when 
next, in due order, and as consequential thereupon, 
I shall proceed to tell you heavenly things; — things, 
that is to say, which are really above your compre- 
hension, and about which you are prematurely asking. 
First of all, then, you must fully perceive the earthly 
side of the matter, or the side which is turned toward 



266 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



you, before you can accept my declarations respecting 
the heavenly side, or the side which is turned from 
you ; and about which you can only learn by revelation 
from heaven. Accordingly, as to this, you should 
take the testimony of the One sent from God, whom 
you confess me to be. For no man has ascended into 
heaven to ascertain for himself such an exclusively 
heavenly thing as this, namely, how the holy God 
who is *'of purer eyes than to behold evil,"^ can find 
a way to become the Re-Generator of a sinful race, 
and perpetuate the lives of those who were defiling 
His universe and presence. The problem is clearly 
above the capacities of the creatures of earth, who 
have no direct knowledge of the high matters of 
heaven, and are necessarily dependent upon revelation 
for all that they can learn of such matters. For, to 
repeat, no man has ascended into heaven, that he 
should arrogate to himself to know aught about the 
doings of God, except as they are revealed. But the 
Son of man came down from heaven, and, being omni- 
present, is also even now in heaven. If then, at last, 
you now realize the necessity for man to be bom 
altogether from above, or of God, and of God both as 
the cleansing Water of Life, and as the Spirit begetting 
spirit, I, who know the high counsels and purposes 
of God, having already told you, in answer to your 
first question, that it is even to supply this funda- 
mental necessity that I am ''come from God'*; will, 
in answer to your other questions, now also tell you 
what, as a heavenly thing, you must accept upon 
faith as coming from me, and which in its heavenly 
mystery you cannot hope fully to understand, namely, 

» Hab. i: 13. 



Requisites to Man's Perfection 267 



how I am to effect this regeneration, or new birth of 
man from above. 

§ 131. Requisites to Man's Perfection. — Before 
proceeding further with our paraphrase, however, of 
our Lord's words to Nicodemus, the reader should 
call to mind the three great requisites to man's per- 
fection, and which should be his therefore, in order in 
the highest sense to enter the kingdom of God. That 
is to say, he should be immortal, holy, and happy; 
and should have, of course, three corresponding Salva- 
tions, namely, from Death, Sinfulness, and Suffering. 
And to have the First Salvation, or be freed from the 
curse of Death, he must not only be cleansed from all 
sins, but have begotten in him from above, as just 
mentioned, a new, sinless, and, in consequence, immor- 
tal Life. For with sin done away in respect of both 
the past and the future. Death will be abolished, and 
then Life, coupled with Immortality, will be brought 
to light. ^ But as God has conferred free-will upon 
man, and never repents of His gifts, 2 this new crea- 
tion must be effected without the least interference 
with man's sovereignty. And furthermore, since 
for God to compel man to be holy would not only 
degrade man into a machine, but make God His own 
worshipper, it is evident also that man's sinful con- 
dition must be suffered to remain in him, until rid- 
dance therefrom is effected by himself. And thus it is, 
in order to fulfil these directly opposing, complex, and 
seemingly irreconcilable conditions, God, on the one 
hand, in His love for the world, and pursuant to the 
atoning and justifying Work of Jesus Christ, begets 
in each individual the new, sinless, immortal Life 

»2 Tim. i: 8-10. 2 Rom. 11: 29. 



2 68 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

of a child of God; while, on the other hand, for all 
the time that man persists in remaining imperfect, 
the old, sinful, mortal life cannot be taken away, by 
virtue of which he continues to be a child of the devil. 
Hence, in order for him to gain his Second Salvation, 
or become holy, he must become in a perfect sense 
what the Bible calls a believer; one whose deeds are 
wrought in God, conformably to the divine nature 
implanted in man's being; the old nature having been 
at last by himself utterly destroyed. Until this takes 
place, he will remain under judgment for his evil 
deeds, and his Third Salvation will of course not be 
attained. There is at first glance an apparent uncer- 
tainty as to the meaning, when our Saviour, in His 
further explanations to Nicodemus, speaks of the 
believer. But in view of the words, yet to be given, 
with which the interview is concluded, the necessary 
inference seems to be, that in His use of the terms 
'' belie veth'' and "believed," He is referring to the 
perfected man, who has gained the victory over the 
''old man," or "child of the devil"; who is therefore, 
He states, no longer under condemnation; and whom 
accordingly He describes as a doer of the truth, whose 
deeds have been wrought in God. That is to say, Jesus 
is not referring to the believer in the militant, but 
in the triumphant state; and so, in addition. He is 
referring, not merely to the new clean seed as planted 
in every man, but to the perfected fruit thereof also. 
In short. His words have reference, in due order, to 
the three salvations essential to man's perfection, 
(i) The Son of man is "lifted up," saving from Death; 

(2) that the believer, saved from Sin and Sinfulness, 

(3) should no longer be perishing under condemna- 
tory judgment, but should have eternal Life, or be 



Requisites to Admittance to Kingdom 269 



saved from Woe, having Life forever in its most abund- 
ant sense. ^ 

§ 132. Requisites to Admittance to Kingdom. — 
In order then to understand the better what our 
Lord says in continuation to Nicodemus, let us keep 
in mind the three requisites to admittance into the 
kingdom of God on high; to wit, to be born of God, 
which is the one first mentioned by Jesus, to become 
a perfect behever, and to be in consequence freed from 
all condemnatory judgment. As though, indeed, 
Jesus was taking pains to make it the clearer, not 
only to His then auditor, but also to the Christians 
of all ages, that He was neither speaking of material 
things, nor, at the first, of the manner of the new 
birth, — that is (to apply His words) neither of material 
water, nor of baptising therein for any purpose what- 
ever, — but of a plain necessity to man's perfection which 
is readily recognised by the human mind, and equally 
as well by the Jew, the pagan, or the Christian; as 
though, that is to say, Jesus would put the purely 
spiritual character of His words beyond a doubt, and 
show how essential was His mission; just three times, 
in accord with the number of all the essentials to per- 
fection, and of the Personality of the Triune God of 
whose fundamental Work for man He was speaking, 
did He repeat the statement of the necessity to be 
born of Him who is the only Source of Life. And He 
does this each time, as His words plainly show, without 
making the least reference to the manner in which the 
necessity should be supplied. Nay, He purposely 

» " I am come that they may have Life, and may have (it) abund- 
antly. " John 10: 10. See Tit. 3 : 6 and 2 Pet. i : 11 ; also for the 
proportion idea Numb. 20 : 11. Is. 55 : 7. Eph. 3 : 20. 



270 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



for the time excludes all consideration of the manner, 
and tells Nicodemus not to be then asking about it, 
because He was not speaking thereof, striving first 
to have him appreciate how fundamental was the 
necessity. And at each repetition of His statement of 
that necessity He makes it plainer, that we must 
seek for His meaning, not in ''the letter," not in the 
realm of flesh, but from that of the spiritual world, 
even from that kingdom above which only has the 
power of generating Life ; or not in water of the earth, 
but in the ''Water" which flows from the Eternal 
Being from whom all Life proceeds. Thus was made 
with peculiar emphasis a threefold answer, each growing 
in plainness over that which preceded to the first 
question of the learned Jewish counsellor as to why 
Jesus was sent from God ; while it was clearly shown 
also that Jesus was using the language of parable, as 
was particularly necessary on this occasion. And 
thus, in view of the question which He was answering, 
and the threefold stress which, in direct connection 
with His mission from God, He was putting upon the 
necessity of a new Life to man from above, did He 
thrice intimate that He, the Speaker Himself, was the 
cleansing Fountain of Life to man, or, verily, the 
Water of which man must be bom. The intimation 
was purposely made obscure to the disciples, and by 
them at the time was not understood. But it seems 
from the ceasing of Nicodemus to ask for further 
explanation, that it was otherwise with this intelli- 
gent * 'Teacher of Israel," who, well versed in the 
scriptures, and wondering whether Jesus was the ex- 
pected Messiah who was to bear the iniquity of us all, ^ 

» Is. 53: 6. Jesus looked for such an understanding of His 
mission from those nobler men, like Nicodemus and Joseph of 



Threefold Nature of Christ's Mission 271 



had come to Jesus for the express purpose of learning 
all he could about Him. 

§ 133. Threefold Nature of Christ's Mission. — 
Without any more interruption from His interviewer, 
therefore, Jesus proceeds. And it is worth observing 
how, in conformity with His threefold intimation of 
the great purpose of His mission, He now three times 
reveals the manner in which that mission was to be 
executed. Resuming then our paraphrase of His words, 
Jesus, having answered the first question of Nicodemus 
as to the nature of His mission, thus goes on to answer 
his other question, twice repeated, as to how man 
was to be bom. He says: 

First. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
(to save from death the sinners who were serpent-bitten,) 
even so (to save the world from Death), must the Son of 
man be lifted up, that whosoever belie veth in Him should 
not perish, but should have eternal Life. 

Second. For God so loved the world (yea, in spite of its 
sin-defiled condition), that He hath given ^ His only be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever beheveth in Him should not 
perish, but should have eternal Life. 

Third. For God hath not sent His Son into the world to 
judge the world, and inflict upon it the Death which was 
its due ; neither to inflict the judgment according to deeds, 
which was being administered already ; but that the world 
through Him should be saved. He that believeth in Him, 

Arimathea, who were well read in the scriptures, and even from 
His unlettered disciples also after His instructions. See Luke 
24: 25-27; 20: 19. Matt. 13: 15-17. 

1 The perfect tense best translates here the Greek aorist, be- 
cause the mission of Jesus was then continuing. The preterit of 
the versions implies that which is altogether of the past. 



272 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

that is, is not sinful, ^ is not judged ; for that which is be- 
gotten of God cannot sin; but he that beHeveth not, or 
retains at all within him that old nature which was be- 
gotten of the devil, is judged already; not, indeed, on the 
one hand, to the immediate, final Death from which he is 
saved, nor, on the other, so as to force him to be holy; for 
this would be putting compulsion upon his GoD-given 
sovereignty of will; but judged justly, with the duly 
proportioned, and therefore uncoercive pains of the Second 
Death; justly, because of his own free-will, more or less 
strongly exerted, he hath not believed in the name of the 
only begotten Son of God. That is to say, each man is 
judged already according to his voluntary faith ; or (which 
is but the same thing in other words) , in strict accordance 
with his deeds; for it did not require the Son of God to 
take upon Him the nature of men, in order to be their 
Judge. And yet. His judgments, though administered 
with the power of God, will never be compulsory; but, 
both as Saviour and Judge, He leaves to men always the 
complete mastery in each case of the individual will, and 
never by any salvation or judgment causes the faith and 
the corresponding deeds of the individual to be otherwise 
than purely the man's own. As men themselves therefore 
love good or evil, so is the judgment. For men, endowed 
by anticipation from the beginning with a divine nature be- 
gotten of God, and having thus received the light which has 
come into the whole world, yet, retaining their old nature 
begotten of the devil, have loved the darkness rather than 
the light, preferring the evil nature to the good, and have 
shown it by their deeds ; for their deeds were evil. For every 
one that doeth unseemly things hateth the light, and cometh 
not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 2 But 

1 In addition to what follows on this occasion see also for the 
proper sense of believeth here, John 6: 27-29. i John 3: 18-24. 
Heb. 3: 12-19, 6tc. 

2 Or, rather, "exposed." The margin of the a. v. renders 
"discovered. " 



Christ Lays Foundation 273 



he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds 
may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in 
God. 

§ 134. Christ Lays Foundation; but Men Build 
Superstructure. — ^These words of caution against 
the idea of Grace doing away with the works of the 
creature, and, in particular, against any substitution 
of faith for other works of men, complete the inter- 
view. In these words is declared plainly the necessity 
of the Superstructure to be erected by men upon the 
Foundation laid by the Divine Speaker; or that 
sinful men must not imagine that Grace will do all, 
and that they are not to be required in turn to do 
their parts also as sovereign free agents. So long as 
they love darkness, and are evil in their deeds, it is 
unmistakably told them that they would continue 
under judgment, and that the judgment is already 
being administered. Although the Son of man was 
indeed to be lifted up for the salvation of men, He 
was not to become "a minister of sin." Rather, if 
the judgment of the law meant even Death to the 
sinner, much sorer still would now be his judgment; 
seeing that, preserved from Death in the midst of his 
Heaven-provoking sins, and therefore calling in vain 
for the mountains and the rocks to fall on him, and 
hide him forever in the completeness of destruction 
from the face of his Judge, he is preserved to suffer, 
after he has ventured to presume upon the precious 
Blood that has saved him ; and to tread under foot the 
great purpose of the Son of God, and to do despite 
unto the Spirit of Grace ; even trifling with that pure, 
cleansing, Divine Water, and that Holy Spirit of 
which he was bom through the sacred Blood of the 



2 74 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

Cross. 1 And so, Jesus, in telling of His heavenly 
mission to save the world, lets us know at the same 
time that, pursuant to His purpose, it is only the 
believer, that is, the perfect man, who shall be delivered 
from a perishing condition, and enjoy eternal Life in 
its highest sense; and that all unbelievers, or all 
doers of evil, shall suffer judgment ; — in other words, 
unlike the believer, shall go on perishing in strict con- 
formity with their deeds, until the old man within 
finally perishes altogether. As it is said : 

"I create the fruit of the lips (the new Life causing even 
the tongue of the dumb to sing, and being compared by the 
prophet to the waters in the desert, or in the thirsty land) ;2 
peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, 
saith the Lord ; and I will heal him. But (for all that comes 
the judgment; for) the wicked are like the troubled sea 
when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.'' ^ 

§ 135. Purpose of Christ's Mission. — ^This then 
is the explanation of our Lord Himself, three times 
repeated, of the purpose of His mission, and of the 
manner in which man was to he begotten from above, or 
of Water and the Spirit. But a short time before, by 
turning Water into Wine, whereof all present, both 
Jews and Gentiles, both the bad and the good, alike 
irrespectively partook, Jesus had indicated in a par- 
able, as we have seen, according to His usual careful 
manner, that His Life was to end in Blood in behalf 
of all alike irrespectively. And the various other cir- 

» Gal. 2: 17, 18. Heb. 10: 26-31. Rev. 6: 15-17. Tit. 3: 4-7. 
Col. 1 : 19-29. 

2 Is. 35: 4-10; 41: 18; 43: 19-21; 44: 3; 48: 20-22. 
^Is. 57, 19-21. 



Purpose of Christ's Mission 275 



cumstances of the miracle had had each its appropriate 
significance ; such as, the making of it His first miracle 
on going from the Jews to the Gentiles; the filling to 
the brim of the six waterpots of stone, — ^that symbol 
of Death, — in which waterpots of their own filling 
men through their ceremonial works had vainly striven 
to purify themselves; the utter failure of the wine 
provided by their other and more substantial works 
or industry for themselves; the approval by the ruler 
of the feast of the new supply ; ^ the freedom of the 
gift to all ; the rebuke even of His mother for attempt- 
ing on any pretext to introduce her personality into 
that Work which pertained to Himself alone; of 
which rebuke let the advocates of baptismal regener- 
ation take special note;^ and even the wedding itself, 
denoting the lasting reconciliation of God with man. 
And as it were to make very plain the meaning of His 
symbolic use of Water, whether in His actions or 
words, the very next time that we hear of Him speak- 
ing after the interview with Nicodemus, He symbolises 
the new Life shortly to be given by Him as living 
Water; even that which should be in the drinker a 
well of Water springing up in everlasting Life; thus 
assimilating, in the language of parable, the symbol 
of that which is begotten through Him, to the symbol 
of Himself, the medium of the begetting — Water 

1 " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." — Matt. 

3: 17- 

2 Those who are so fond of calling the Church Militant our Holy 
Mother, in the very face of the sins and corruptions which are the 
self-evident results of the prevailing power of the devil over "the 
old man" in the individual members, should also see in the rebuke 
a warning to the Church, not to arrogate to itself a share in the re- 
generation of Life. Hebraism, or Jewish mode of speaking, and 
filial veneration have nothing to do with the speech of Jesus. It 
is God who rebukes. 



276 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



begetting water, conformably to what He had said 
to Nicodemus, that Hke begets like. Indeed, in His 
symbolic use of Water on that occasion, He was avail- 
ing Himself of its frequent prophetic employment 
in Levitical ceremony and by the sacred writers; 
deeming it therefore a symbol which would make 
itself intelligible to one so familiar with both as was 
Nicodemus. Among many similar allegorical in- 
stances of its use in the elder scriptures, it may be 
called to mind how that it was of no water of earth 
of which Ezekiel prophesied, when he said : 

"Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you, and ye shall 
be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, 
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a 
new spirit will I put within you : and I will take away the 
stony heart (even the curse of Death) out of your flesh, 
and I will give you an heart of flesh {i. e. Life). And I will 
put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my 
statutes." 1 

And long before the days of Ezekiel, this prophecy 
of his, when it came, had been definite as to the Water 
intended, seeing that Isaiah, in his marvellous descrip- 
tion of the Redeemer as One who was to bear the 
iniquity of us all, had written of Him, "So shall He 
sprinkle many nations." 2 So often, indeed, in the 
elder scriptures is Water the symbol of the Lord as 
the Fountain of all Life, that its use by the Divine 
Speaker to denote Himself as the Life of the world 
was, as already mentioned, peculiarly well adapted, 

* Ezek. 36: 25-27. The new heart and new spirit and even the 
heart of fiesh also represent, respectively, besides Life, the new 
man; and the stony heart, besides Death, the old man. 

2 Is. 52: 15. 



Christ Silent about Sacramental Baptism 277 



first, to suggest to the well-read Nicodemus His true 
meaning, and yet, next, as on other occasions of the 
use of the symbol by our Saviour, to cloak from His 
hearers in general the knowledge that He was speaking 
of Himself. In His explanation of His mission, there- 
fore, by this and other darkened language, He makes 
known to Nicodemus, but conceals from His disciples, 
the fact that He was to die upon the cross of the com- 
mon malefactor, that the world might be saved, and 
the believer have eternal Life in full fruition, free from 
all condemnatory judgment; while the tinbeliever 
would remain under judgment for his evil deeds not- 
withstanding that salvation. 

§ 136. Christ Silent about Sacramental Bap- 
tism. — In view of what is thus minutely explained, 
telling, in fact, as the result of the mission of Jesus, 
of the three salvations to be obtained which are neces- 
sary to the perfection of man, let us carefully observe, 
that although the explanations of the begetting of 
men from above of Water and Spirit ^ are three in 
number, 2 and are quite explicit to us now-a-days, 

1 There is no article in verse 5 before "Spirit," but is (as to the 
begetting Spirit) in verses 6 and 8. 

2 To illustrate how blind wise and learned commentators can 
be, and how arbitrary in their deductions, some have supposed the 
words of Jesus, contrary to the text, to end with verse 13, and the 
following words to be only those of St. John. But no wonder, 
when it was not even understood why it is said in verse 3, "Jesus 
answered. " Of course, therefore, they could not understand that 
the unperceived question why He was being sent from God re- 
quired an explanation. The true rule for the individual seeker 
after truth is, Hear the argument of the commentator, but be your 
own authority. It is therefore for us "the babes" to be our own 
judges where "the wise and prudent" go astray; and to do this 
is not arrogance, but a duty. 



2/8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

and show very plainly what is above stated; and 
although, in explanation of His mission from God, 
the necessity and manner of this birth from above, 
and its consequences and responsibilities, thus be- 
came the engrossing subjects of His conversation with 
Nicodemus, and are all distinctly set forth; yet, in 
no one of the three explanations is a single word said 
about sacramental baptism, or, for that matter, about 
water at all, or the least intimation given that through 
such means man was to gain Life, or be bom again. 
Nay, instead thereof, the moment Nicodemus intro- 
duced a new birth by material instrumentalities into 
the conversation, Jesus at once corrected him, saying, 
that the regeneration of which He was speaking was 
to be effected by nothing lower than God Himself; 
for that He was speaking of a birth of spirit; and 
that only the Spirit could beget spirit, all else follow- 
ing its natural law. And in addition. He afterwards 
expressly explained that it was His own ''lifting up" 
which should be the means whereby the Life for 
man was to be gained. And, moreover, instead of any 
intimation that the few who might be baptised were 
those who only should receive the new birth, He is 
emphatic in proclaiming God's love for the world, and 
that it was to save the world He had been sent from 
God. In truth, simply at the first, and for a single 
time, and in a symbolic way, did He use the term 
Water, and forthwith dropped its use, so soon as He 
perceived that Nicodemus imderstood Him, and only 
thereafter took care to speak in the third person, first, 
of the Son of man, and then, of the Son of God; thus 
while (aided by gestures perhaps) making His meaning 
more plain to His keen-minded auditor, as it ought 
now to be to us, nevertheless, by this roundabout. 



Baptismal Regeneration Not Introduced 279 



changeful manner, making it the more difficult for 
His disciples at that time to follow His words; 
although, in the end, the Spirit was to bring all things 
to their remembrance. ^ All through the interview, 
therefore, it is evident that Jesus is pursuing His only 
proper answer to what He had been asked, namely, 
why He had been sent from God; that is, what He 
Himself had come to do. He certainly had not come 
to baptise ; for it is distinctly said, on another occasion 
shortly afterwards, that Jesus Himself did not baptise; 
while His disciples did. 2 It was most consistent in 
Him accordingly to say nothing about baptism. For 
Nicodemus had not asked what the disciples were 
to do, whether to baptise, or do some other thing. 
For that matter, he knew nought of their future mis- 
sion, or of Christian baptism. His thoughts were 
wholly upon the mission of Jesus Himself, and of that 
he asked; and it was what he asked that Jesus was 
answering. 

§ 137. Baptismal Regeneration Not Intro- 
duced. — If, however, Jesus did not answer, as it is 
said He did, about His own mission, or about what 
He Himself had come to the world to do, but abruptly 
introduced the subject of baptismal regeneration, — 
a dogma at that time wholly unknown, — then there 
would have been no necessity for darkened language 
upon the subject; while what He did say about flesh 
begetting only flesh, and only spirit spirit, with His 
repeated subsequent affirmations that His lifting up 
would bring Life to the world, and the like, would 
have been foreign thereto, and inconsequential, and 
contradictory of the assumed original statement that 

1 John 14: 26; 16: 4-6, 12, 18-20, 25. 2 John 4:1,2. 



28o The Foundation and the Superstructure 



we must be bom of material water. ^ In fact, suppos- 
ing baptismal regeneration to have been His theme, 
our Lord throughout His discourse would have been 
utterly unintelligible to Nicodemus, and none of His 
explanations would have explained; explanations, in 
truth, which make no mention whatever either of 
baptism or even of water. And yet. His inquisitive 
interviewer shows at the time by abstaining from 
further questioning, and afterwards by what is said 
of him, that he went away very well satisfied with 
what he had heard. On the other hand, if the dogma 
of baptismal regeneration be not arbitrarily introduced 
into the interview, we have a connected discourse from 
our Lord, perfectly consistent in itself, and with all 
His other teaching, and with that of the sacred writers, 
and admirably calculated for its double purpose, on 
the one hand, to tell Nicodemus the great secret of His 
approaching death on the common malefactor's cross, 
in order to give Life to the world, and on the other 
hand, to veil the secret for the present from all others. 
But if, without other reason than our own arbitrary 
will, taking advantage of the metaphorical expression 
*' water," and having nothing in what was otherwise 
said to take advantage of, we insist that a new birth 
by ceremonial baptism was intended by our Lord, and 
that, such being the case, Nicodemus, the teacher 
only of Jews, and knowing only the Old Testament, 

» For the mission of Christ was to give Life, either to the world, 
as He declares, and by His own direct act, and in a spiritual way, 
or only to the baptised, as the materialists declare, and indirectly 
on His part, through the Works of men, from age to age, by their 
use of material means. And so, how careful He was to say that 
His life was not taken from Him by man, but that He laid it down 
of Himself! John lo: 17, 18. The important bearing of this 
upon John 6: 53 also may be readily seen. 



Baptismal Regeneration Not Introduced 281 

should have understood all about baptismal regener- 
ation, and was fitly criticised for his ignorance of 
this so-called Christian dogma, then the wonder is, 
that one, who was so quick to let it be known when he 
did not understand should, upon the absence of explana- 
tion in that direction, have ceased to question, while 
an explanatory discourse which would seem to have 
no connection with water or water baptism was deliv- 
ered to him, and which therefore, as explanatory 
of a regeneration through material water, must have 
seemed to him as unintelligible and as foreign to the 
subject as it was possible to be made. And yet, his 
very ceasing to question shows that he did under- 
stand what Jesus really intended; and he afterwards 
said as much when he told the Jewish council that 
they should not assume to condemn our Lord before 
they too had heard Him, and knew what He doeth. 
And that he did understand, and had made his fellow- 
coimcillor Joseph, who had been theretofore a timid 
believer, a partner of his knowledge, is the only thing 
which accounts for their imique boldness at the time 
of the Crucifixion.! 

» Some may try to dodge the point at issue by supposing Jesus 
to have intended both baptismal regeneration and also what He 
did say that Nicodemus understood. But they give no grounds 
for so supposing; and certainly none appear. We can suppose 
anything; but supposition and assumption are not enough. Why 
did not Jesus then so explain to the questioning Nicodemus when 
He answered him? Surely His explanations are quite plain as 
to His mission being to give Life to and save the world; but 
how about the supposed baptismal regeneration? It remains — a 
supposition; and as a supposition we leave it to the infatuated, 
self-satisfied placidity of ecclesiasticism, whose faith may not 
remove mountains ; but neither can mountains remove it. Against 
any amount of truth it will hold to its serenity, and in its "strong 
delusion" cannot be shaken. We have seen, however, how every 
argument is against the assumption. 



282 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

§ 138. Regeneration through Christ. — ^To di- 
rect the attention of men first and above all things 
to the great events of the Life and Death of Jesus, 
rather than to symbols, and thus in a measure ward 
off the abuses of ecclesiasticism, may have been rea- 
sons, in addition to the more direct ones, why He 
deferred to the last the institution of those memorial 
sacraments which were to perform their necessary 
part in retaining in the world the knowledge of what 
He had done for men. And in respect of baptism it 
was most appropriate that He Himself refrained so 
carefully from baptising; seeing that it was not by a 
ceremony that men were to be bom of God through 
Him, but solely because of His Life of Righteousness 
and atoning Death. ^ And it was well also that previ- 
ous to His saving Work men, and particularly His own 
disciples, should have been engaged in baptising one 
another with the baptism which told only of their own 
repentance or efforts to lead for themselves the Life of 
Righteousness ; that is to say, which told of the vanity 
of their subsequent works, even if perfect, to save 
sinners from the Death which is declared to be the 
wages of their sin. Thus was baptism, as finally in- 
stituted by Him, made the better memorial of His 
own Work, in contrast with theirs. Nay, since it was 
to be a reminder of Himself after He had left the 
world and ascended into heaven, how incongruous 
it would have been for Him to have celebrated a 
ceremony of reminder while still present among men. 2 

1 Like as the goodness in men shows them to be born of the 
Spirit, so, most consistently, the Bible declares the Holy Spirit 
to fall upon men also before baptism (Acts 10: 44-48), and also 
that they believe before baptism (Acts 2: 41; 4: 4; 8: 12, etc.). 

2 So, the passover feast was made to foretell the offering of the 
true paschal Lamb to the very last, and only then, after its final 



Regeneration through Christ 283 



In fact, it is just these subtle refinements of congruity 
which illustrate the supernatural character of the 
inspired word. And by His postponing the institu- 
tion of baptism as a memorial sacrament until after 
the events memorialised were performed, and in His 
refraining from baptising, there was not only con- 
gruity of action, but it was shown also that men 
ought rather to dwell in mind upon the events, and 
upon what had been accomplished by them, than upon 
the ceremonies instituted to remind us thereof. In 
other words, the postponement, and especially the 
refraining, indicate the teaching of baptism to be, 
that through no material water are men begotten of 
God in Christ; but that the sacrament is designed 
rather to show forth for all time how that all men 
have been baptised into His Death, and risen again 
in His Resurrection ; 1 or that in His Death, com- 
pleting His Life of Righteousness, they too have died, 
and suffered the penalty of sin; and thus, having 
their sins removed (like as in the symbolic ceremony 
the natural flesh is washed in the baptismal water), 
and a new Life of Righteousness given to all irre- 
spectively, in Him again they all have risen, and are 
accordingly bom into that new Life which is of God 
with all its inseparable consequences, including the 
new Judgment according to Deeds, in the place of 
the old Death from which we have been delivered. 2 

celebration, was changed to the feast which thereafter was to 
remind us that its prophecy had been fulfilled. See Luke 22 : 
15-18. 

1 Rom. 6:3-11. Col. 2: 12. 

2 In argument with even a presbyter of good education I have 
learned the necessity of pointing out the difference between pre- 
vious baptisms which told only of repentance, and the baptism 
instituted by our Lord, which told rather of His than of our 



284 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§ 139. Regeneration Not Accomplished by Bap- 
tism. — ^And here let it be remembered again, and 
due weight given to the fact, that the declaration of 
the necessity of regeneration was made before the 
institution of Christian baptism; or before the sacra- 
ment, or any idea of regeneration thereby, had been 
known among men, including, let us bear in mind, 
among even the followers of our Lord; and yet was 
declared to be what "the Teacher of Israel" should 
very well know; showing plainly, that a regeneration 
by baptism could not be the thing intended. But if, as 
the misrepresentation would have it, there had been 
truly a preexistent necessity for the sacrament, then, 
on that supposition, the lateness of the institution, 
after billions of the human race had died, and again 
the persistent and evidently careful postponement 
of the institution during the life of Jesus, the self- 
avowed Saviour of the world, and, in conformity there- 
with, the strict refraining by Himself from baptising, 
while men, on the supposition, were daily perishing 
without the possibility of ever entering the Kingdom 
of God, — ^whatever else such things may show forth, — 
of a certainty would not indicate that God loves, or 
ever loved, the world; but just the contrary. For if 
baptism be thus essential to the regaining of Life for 
the individual, and so palpably essential that Nico- 
demus, as a learned Jew, even before its institution, 
should have known the fact (although, it being a 
simple, arbitrary ceremony, how he possibly could 
have thus known, let those who so believe explain), 
then the supposition means, that an absolute neces- 

keeping of the law, and whose superstructural significance was 
simply consequential upon the Foundation laid by Him. See 
Matt. 3: 11-17. Acts i: 5; 10: 44-48; 19: 1-7. 



Not Accomplished by Baptism 285 



sity to the Life of the world has never been supplied — 
neither before the coming of Christ, nor since! Not 
since; for the administration of the sacrament to all 
mankind has never since been possible. Nay, after 
that coming, there was (assuming the supposed fun- 
damental necessity of baptism for the regeneration 
of the individual, and his entrance into the kingdom 
of God) not the slightest regard apparently had for 
the multitudes who were daily departing from the 
world; the very institution of the sacrament being 
delayed until after the professed Saviour of all men 
had Himself died, and risen again, and was about 
to leave the world ! For, remember, the statement is 
without qualification, that "Except a man be bom 
of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
dom of God." Hence it strictly requires, if the sup- 
position be correct, the shutting out of that kingdom 
for ever of all who die without being baptised. Any 
merciful qualifications of the statement which we may 
choose to invent, or to infer from other texts, are not 
those of our Lord, and would seem to be introducing, 
and very unnecessarily, confusion and incoherence 
into the revelations of God. The words of Jesus are 
positive, and on the side of love; and if therefore 
they are capable of a positive interpretation on that 
side in harmony with the other scriptures, it should be 
given. As between the two opposing views, it is 
either that He Himself alone is the Life of the world 
or that He becomes the Life of the baptised only. 
If the latter, then of course He is not the Life of the 
world; although over and over again He so declares; 
and, in substance, at this very interview with Nico- 
demus; and accordingly for the greater number of 
mankind there would be absolutely no hope of ever 



286 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



entering the Kingdom of God. If, however, He is, 
as He says, the Life of the world, then our own mer- 
ciful, but unreliable inventions, and inferences, and 
modifications, and qualifications, to break the force 
of the positive statement, become unnecessary; and 
we are saved the hazard of adding to or tampering 
with the word of God, if not from making Him w^ho 
is the Truth itself a liar. Hence, in asserting a mere 
ceremony to be so essential to regeneration, and to an 
entrance into the kingdom of God, what utter indif- 
ference to the salvation of the world at large would we 
imply in its Creator and professed Saviour! And how 
utterly useless, nay cruel, would be a universal redemp- 
tion from Death! And how chary and unbeneficent 
would be the representation made by the baptismal idea 
of the dispensation of the Grace of God; indicating, 
moreover, its bestowal through Christ to be no longer 
free, but purchased by the Works of men! What 
therefore, in justice to the holy God of Love, ought a 
reasonable man to think of so dishonouring an inter- 
pretation of the words of Him, who, in declaring 
thus positively, and without qualification, the absolute 
necessity of the regeneration of mankind, declared 
also with equal positiveness His mission to be to give 
Life to the world, and that He was sent for this pur- 
pose, because, verily, God loved the world? And 
what, moreover, ought we to think of the narrow 
bigotry, the indifferent heart lessn ess, and the horri- 
ble blasphemy of the ecclesiasticism which could 
invent such an unseemly interpretation? And if, in 
addition, even subsequent to the institution of baptism, 
its administration to the great majority of men has been 
practically impossible, — as has been patent ever since, — 
then what far greater reason for reproof attaches to 



Not Accomplished by Baptism 287 



those who advocate the blasphemous interpretation, 
than for imagining Jesus to have reproved Nicodemus 
for not knowing that God was so cruel, and was so 
arbitrarily respective of persons!^ For that matter, 
where all alike deserved Death, no plan of regeneration, 
which was not effective for all sinners irrespectively, 
can be regarded as showing forth God's love for the 
world, or that He is no respecter of persons. Any 
bestowal of Life by means that are partial in their 
effects would demonstrate Him to be as partial as His 
system, and most certainly to be no lover of the whole 
world. And accordingly, what mockery would have 
been the reason given for the mission of Jesus by Him- 
self, to wit, that He would regenerate and save, be- 
cause *'GoD so loved the world'' \^ or also the inspired 
declaration that He was a propitiation "for the whole 
world." 3 

» The quasi reproof to Nicodemus deprives the advocate of 
baptismal regeneration of the argument that baptism only became 
essential when instituted after the resurrection. But it would be 
enough to disprove God's love for the world, if the fact were that 
He instituted a sacrament through which, only, man could be 
regenerated; and at the same time its administration to all — in 
this case to the great majority of the human race — ^has ever since 
been impossible. And yet, in the interview, it is God's love for 
the world which is given as the motive of His Gift of renewed Life 
to men. If, moreover, before the institution of baptism regenera- 
tion were effected without a ceremony, then, those who lived be- 
fore were favoured of God. That is, He has respected persons, 
and Christ's Advent has not been of benefit to men, but has added 
to the difficulty of gaining Life for all, instead of His being the 
Life of the world. 

2 St. Paul, we remember, effectually answers the conditional 
argument, which would make final salvation to depend upon the 
fleeting conditions of this life, and the mercy of God to last just 
that long. He shows that if God loved the unredeemed world, 
much more does He love the redeemed world, now washed in the 
Blood of His beloved Son. See Rom. 5. 

3 I John 2: 2. 



288 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



§140. The Uncovenanted Mercies of God. — To 
obviate all these and the like vital objections to bap- 
tism as a necessity to the regeneration of men, the up- 
holders of the dogma are compelled to resort without 
authority to the uncovenanted mercies of God. To do 
so does honour to their hearts, but not to their logic. 
And it is doing honour to their hearts at the expense 
of the honour due to the Lord. For if, to repeat, in 
any way man may gain Life without being bom of 
sacramental water, then, when Jesus is represented as 
declaring the necessity of baptism. He is represented 
as declaring what, on the supposition, would be ob- 
viously not true. And thus, in the very face of His 
supposed declaration, as well as of their own dogma 
and purely upon their own authority, the humanity 
within them, from which they cannot separate them- 
selves, it being a part of their new, godlike nature, com- 
pels them to claim, that a necessity, by Him supposed 
to be stated, and stated without qualification, becomes, 
under certain circumstances, according to their sense 
of right, in spite of their interpretation of His state- 
ment, no necessity at all. It is in fact a confession 
that their own interpretation of the words of Him 
who is the Truth, as well as the Life, is not correct; 
and that the statement, in its strictness, as by them 
supposed to be made, would be a libel upon the divine 
character. They therefore daringly assume, but from 
the best of motives, to modify the statement of Jesus, 
as by themselves interpreted, to suit their better ideas 
of God. In other words, they admit that their in- 
terpretation cannot be made, without playing fast and 
loose with the words of Jesus as thus interpreted, 
or, that is to say, without insisting upon or dispensing 
with them as often as their judgment, or, perhaps, their 



Baptism and Universality of Salvation 289 



partisan interests, may require. Thus are they com- 
pelled, in spite of the frequent commands to the con- 
trary, to add to or subtract from the inspired word 
as they hold it to be revealed, and to admit that per- 
sons need not always be bom of baptised water to 
*' enter the kingdom of God." ^ 

§ 141. Baptism and the Universality of Sal- 
vation. — ^And yet, when our Lord asserted that to 
enter that kingdom we must be bom from above, even 
of Water and Spirit, He not only put the necessity 
without qualification, but prefaced His assertion with 
the strong, emphatic words, "Truly, truly, I say unto 
thee." How much more reverent it would be, as well 
as consistent, to recognise our Lord to be ''verily," 

1 I cannot but honour, however, those whose divine nature 
thus asserts itself at the expense both of their logic and of their 
ecclesiasticism. Very different was the spirit of two individuals 
who, one Sunday, many years ago, entered the cabin of a ferry 
boat where I was sitting, one of them shouting exultingly, " Ah-h-h! 

did not Father settle well this trashy talk about invincible 

ignorance? What folly, in this age, when the claims of the Church 
are so well known, to talk of invincible ignorance!" These un- 
fortunates were evidently felicitating themselves that their ecclesi- 
astical opponents were to burn forever in the fires of hell ! These 
could have no claim to mercy because of ignorance. What de- 
licious satisfaction! The whole manner of the heartless wretches 
savoured of diabolical glee and proud self-satisfaction. Their 
worse nature, derived of the devil, was having full swing; and the 
arch-enemy had reason to gloat in triumph over them. If not 
following the loving One who came to save the world, they were 
the strictest followers of the "father" to whom they had been 
listening; and he too could have gloated in his children. Alas! 
how easily the minister of Christ degenerates into a minister of 
evil; preaching, not the gospel of love, but the baspel of hate! As I 
could do no good to the strangers I of course was silent. How 
singular that they should felicitate themselves upon being children 
of God, just when they were evidencing themselves to be children 
of the devil! 
19 



290 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



what He declares Himself, even the Life of the world; ^ 
and that, in the passage in question, He not only affirms 
what is indeed a strict necessity, but plainly indicates, 
in answer to Nicodemus, that He had come from God 
to supply that necessity to the full, or for all men. If 
dogmatisers would throw aside all partisanship in the 
matter, they would perceive how afterwards the Divine 
Speaker goes on, in explanation, expressly to connect 
His affirmation with the love of God for the world, and 
with His sending His Son to save the world; and that 
He makes no mention at all of baptism, or even of 
water, in that explanation, and that instead of making 
a distinction of those who are baptised from those who 
are not. His only distinction is between those who 
continue under judgment, because their deeds are evil, 
and those who are freed from that judgment, because 
they have become perfect believers, with deeds that 
are manifestly wrought in God. And men would see 
also with what consistency the Bible tells us in express 
words, first, of the Spirit falling upon men before bap- 
tism; thus showing that they were already born of 
the Spirit and could in consequence be moved thereof ; 2 
and next, of the goodness in general in man, proving 
at each manifestation of the same that he was thus 
bom; and thirdly, of unbelievers becoming converts; 
again demonstrating that they had received of the 
Spirit before baptism ^ and that in the convert there is 
a spiritual being, already begotten of God, to be 
baptised. 4 Had the answer of Jesus to Nicodemus 
been so worded as simply to show the necessity of 

» That is, that He who is "the Truth, " and said, "Truly, truly, " 
spake the truth. 

2 Whereas in "the old man" there is no good at all. Rom. 7: 
18; 8: 5-10. 

* Acts 10: 44-48. I John 3: 24. * I John 2: 29; 4: 9-14. 



Baptism and Universality of Salvation 291 



an humble, obedient spirit to final salvation, and 
therefore of being baptised; without, however, posi- 
tively making the sacrament the door of spiritual 
Life, and, in consequence, indispensable to final sal- 
vation; in such a case it would be no contradiction to 
rest our hopes for the imbaptised upon the mercy of 
God, which, we are told over and over again, endureth 
for ever. A passage worded in this manner is that of 
Mark 16 : 16, ^ ' 'He that has believed (i. e. to perfection) 
and been baptized shall be saved: but he that has not 
believed shall be judged. '* But the passage which we 
have had under consideration all along, on the other 
hand, admits of no loop-hole of escape in respect of 
the necessity by it proclaimed; and that necessity is 
also asserted in the strongest manner possible : — ' ' Ver- 
ily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of 
Water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God.'* In other words, the passage declares, that 
except man has a Saviour to save him from Death, 
he must die. And it obviously implies, in view of 
the question of Nicodemus, that Jesus had been sent 
from God to be that Saviour; — an implication which is 
afterwards confirmed in express words. Furthermore, 
in the universality of the need thus affirmed by our 
Lord is implied also the universality of the salvation 
which He was sent from the irrespective God to effect. 
And this implication likewise has its confirmation by 
Him, when He gives the motive of His mission to be 
God's love for the world. 

» A passage, by the way, considered by some of doubtful au- 
thenticity. 



NOTES. 

§ I (a), (p. i). I take the following from the manuscript of The 
Purpose of the Mons, referred to in the Preface hereto: 

"§ 145. The Origin of Evil in Sin. — In Sin.i and its imme- 
diate result, Spiritual Death, or alienation from God, we have the 
origin of all Evil. . . . Final and Utter Destruction may be re- 
garded as the natural consequence, the legitimate fruit, of Spiritual 
Death; 2 and being averted, its substitute of Suffering becomes the 
actual consequence. Hence, the latter is called in the Bible 'the 
Second Death,' because, doubtless, of its being the substitute 
for Final Death, but, especially, because of its being the actual 
development of, and therefore succeeding, Spiritual Death.3 . . . 
For, as God is the sole Source of ' Life, ' any alienation from Him, 
in depriving that which is alienated of Life, produces of course 
immediate 'Death,' according to the extent of the alienation. 
In fact, the Death, so produced, but for Redemption, would have 
immediately eventuated in the utter destruction of the sinner: 
just as, with Redemption, it actually eventuates in, or has for its 
result, the Second Death. 

" § 146. The Spiritual Conception of Death. — The spiritual 
eye of man not being opened to discern the purely spiritual state 
of alienation from God, we only become sensible of Death having 
been produced in us, when it makes itself apparent to the eye of 
sense. There must be some outward and visible sign of the in- 
ward and spiritual disaster which stops the flow of Life; or Death 
is to us as if it had not occurred. But when the vigour of Life 
wholly or in part abates, and Destruction wholly or in part takes 

1 Or, rather, Sinfulness. I use the term " Sin," because it is 
the familiar one of our English versions; understanding by it, 
however. Sinfulness. 

2 That is, in the Biblical sense; or that we "were by nature chil- 
dren of wrath " : for in general, of course, that only is natural, which 
is in accordance with the order of things as actually experienced 
in nature. 

3 Rev. 2 : II ; 20: 6, 14; 21 : 8. Jude 5, 12. 

293 



294 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



its place, then we become vividly conscious of the mortal change 
which has happened; and to the outward manifestation, rather than 
to Death itself, we give the name. But, in a spiritual sense. Death 
is that which cuts off the living being from Him from whom all 
Life proceeds; and the outward manifestation of the fact is rather 
a second Death, which may be complete, or which may be partial. 
But the complete form being abolished, the partial becomes that 
which alone is possible and actual, and accordingly appropriates 
to itself, exclusively, the title of the second Death.* 

"§147. Spiritual Death. — To illustrate: Spiritual Death is 
the girdling which cuts off a tree from its Root and Source of Life. 
The Second Death is the visible Decay and blighted condition of 
the tree which ensue. 

"Final Death would of course be its Utter and Complete De- 
struction. 

" This Death, however, in respect to mankind, is prevented by 
the insuperable obstacle which has been interposed to the natural 
effect of the complete girdling of the human tree by the inde- 
structible Link or 'Branch '2 which connects the tree with the 
Root. 3 In other words, Christ Jesus is an eternal Link or Bond 
of connection between God and man; and through Him the Holy 
Spirit (to return to our metaphor) imparts the Life-giving juices 
which sustain the tree in Life, and whereby its eventual restoration 
to Health is effected. 

"§ 148. The First Death. — From this it will be seen that, 
in all strictness, the true First Death, which is the immediate 
or primary result of an act of Sin, is the Death which consists in a 
state of alienation from God. And, cutting off, as Sin does, him 
who commits it from the Great Source of all our living powers 
from Him in whom 'we live, and move, and have our being,'* 
the severance is sure to be speedily followed by the horrors of the 
Second Death; and in exact accordance with the extent of the 

1 Accordingly, St. Jude says (illustrating the fact that judgment 
upon the sinner follows upon redemption), "that the Lord, having 
saved people out of the land of Egypt, the second time (rc> devrs- 
pov) destroyed them that believed not " : and so, he speaks 
of the wicked, a few verses after, as "twice dead." Jude 5, 12. 
So Goliath is killed with the stone (the First Death), and with the 
sword (the Second), i Samuel 17: 50, 51. 

2 Is. 11: i; 4: 2. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33: IS, 16. Zech. 3: 8, 9; 6: 12, 13. 
Ps. no: 2. 

3 Rev. 5: 5; 22: 16. Is. 11: I, 10. Rom. 15: 12. 

4 Acts 17: 28. 



Notes 295 



severance. Just as the obstruction of the healthful flow of blood 
from the heart results in physical disorders in proportion to the 
obstructing cause. But as the unseen obstruction is one thing, 
and the visible disorders caused by it quite another, so the in- 
visible state of alienation from God caused by Sin is a very different 
Death from the visible forms of Death which are actually produced 
by it, and to which visible forms in general, however numerous 
or diversified they may be, is applied the appellation of the Second 
Death. 

"§ 149. The Apocalyptic Vision op Death. — Hence, in the 
representation of Death on the pale horse, and of Hell following 
with him, in the Apocalyptic Vision, it is very evidently, in the one 
case, a Spiritual Death of alienation from God, and, in the other, 
the disastrous consequences attendant thereupon, which are 
respectively depicted. 1 In other words, Spiritual Death goes 
before, and Hell follows in close and constant attendance; thereby 
justifying its title of the Second Death. In short, the latter is 
death as actually manifested to the senses and experience; or 
Death, not in any abstract or spiritualised sense, but in its visible 
and concrete form, whatever that form may be, and whenever 
and wherever it may be exhibited, whether in this aeon, or in the 
aeon to come; — that is to say, including all suffering, corruption, 
and degradation, here or hereafter. It is therefore the judgments 
which follow upon the state produced by Sin, rather than the 
state itself; the latter being in fact what the Bible, which usually 
goes straight to the sources of things, commonly denominates by 
the simple term ' Death. ' It is the latter state, accordingly, or 
the Spiritual Death of alienation from God, which is distinguished 
in the Scriptures by such words as ' Darkness, ' or ' Outer Darkness ' ; 2 
while the Second Death refers rather to the 'stumbling ' of him who 
walketh in that darkness. "3 

§ 3 (^)» (P- 7)- The Psalmist and the Three Salvations. — ^The 
Psalmist (116: 7-9) sings prophetically of the three salvations: 
"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt boun- 
tifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from Deaths 
mine eyes from TearSy and my feet from Falling. I will walk 
before the Lord in the land of the living " (even where there shall 
be no more Sorrow, or Crying, or Death. Rev. 21 : 4). And again 
(56: 12, 13): "Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises 

1 Rev. 6: 8. 

2 Compare, for example, i John 2: 8-1 1 with 3: 14, 15, and 6. 

3 See John ii : S-io. i John 2 : 10. 



296 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



unto Thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from Death: wilt 
not Thou deliver my feet from Falling, that I may walk before 
God in the Light of the living?" And Isaiah repeats (25: 8): 
"He will swallow up Death in victory; and the Lord God will 
wipe away Tears from off all faces; and the Reproach {i. e. Sin- 
fulness) shall He take away from off all the earth : for the Lord 
hath spoken it." 

Among the countless illustrations of the subject which fill the 
pages of the Bible I may mention the three days of our Lord's 
entombment. The first of these days was that of His Death — 
an evident showing forth of our Salvation from Death. The 
second, the only full, complete day, was that of the preaching 
to the sinful spirits in prison, the sealing of the stone, the scriptural 
type of the death caused by Sin, and the setting of the watch. 
It told of the long seon of Sinfulness during which it is impossible 
for man to attain his final resurrection. Accordingly, the illus- 
trative day could not be shortened a single moment. But as the 
only purpose of suffering is to make man perfect, why, after the 
aeon of imperfection is over, should there not at once be the Sal- 
vation from Woe? Hence the third illustrative day is only long 
enough to make its figurative character manifest. While it was 
still dark, even before the dawn, the tomb was found vacant, with 
the sealing stone rolled away, and the watching soldiers gone. 

In Nature also the illustrations are innumerable; a suggestive 
one being that of a tree, in beauteous Life, with its Roots, Trunk 
and Branches. In fact, all nature exists in just three conditions — 
that of a solid, a liquid, or a gas; and its every visible form must 
have at least three sides. Spiritual Life is, however, best denoted 
in such figures as the Bud, the Blossom, and the Fruit; or, the 
Infant, the Youth, and the Man. 

§10 (a), (p. 20). ^ONic Conceptions. — The following examples 
of aionios will illustrate, as in the case of the noun, its normally tem- 
poral meaning, to wit: — LXX. — Gen. 17: 8 promises to Abraham 
and his seed the land wherein he dwelt for an cBonic possession. 
And yet, subsequently, this possession was found to be dependent 
upon and correlated with their conduct. See 17: 19; 48: 4. Lev. 
26: 33-45. Deut. 4: 25-31; 28: ()T^, 64; 29: 22-28. I Ch. 16: 17. 
Ps. 105:8-11. Ezek. 36: 2. Neh. 1:8, 9. Esth. 4: 17. Gen. 17: 
13, Circumcision called an ozonic covenant; yet the rite ended with 
redemption and justification. Gal. 5: 1-6. Ex. 12: 14, 17, the 
keeping of the passover made an cBonic law, but not one that was 
everlasting. i Cor. 5: 7, 8, the priesthood of Aaron and his 
descendants made ceonic, but now ended; and so of the things 
severally connected therewith. Ex. 27: 21; 28: 43; 29: 28; 30: 21. 



Notes 297 



Lev. 6: 18, 22; 7: 34, 36; 10: 9, 15; 16: 29, 34; 17: 7; 24: 3. 8, 9. 
Numb. 10: 8; 18: 8, 11, 19; 25: 13. Sirac. 45- i5» mistakes, or 
speaks figuratively, of the duration of this csonic priesthood by 
adding, that it is as the days of heaven; which is only actually true, 
not of the Levitical priesthood, but of that of Christ, i Mac. 2 : 54, 
speaks of the cBonic priesthood of Phinehas also, and as expressly 
covenanted. For czonic religious observances required or ob- 
served of the people, but now obsolete, see Lev. 23: 14, 21, 31, 41. 
Numb. 15: 15; 19: 10, 21. Tobit i: 6. Lev. 25: 34, speaks of 
cities of the Levites as their czonic possession; and Numb. 18: 23 
of an azonic law relating to that tribe. Ps. 76: 6 (77: 5), "I have 
considered days of old, and ancient {cBonic) years." See also Is. 63 : 
II. Prov. 22: 28, "Remove not the ancient {cBonic) landmarks 
which thy fathers have set. " See also the same command in 
23: 10. Is. 58: 12, "Thy old {cBonic) desolate places shall be built 
up (which could not be of "everlasting" desolation), and thy 
foundations shall be cBonic (i. e. from age to age, or from life to 
life) for generations of generations"; or not for ever. See, too, 
61: 4; 60: 15, prophesies csonic joy for generations of generations 
{i. e., from life to life). Jer. 18: 15, 16, "Because my people have 
forgotten me, have even burned incense in an empty (spirit), they 
shall tread stumblingly on their journeys the seonic rush-places, 
going upon by-tracks, having no road for a passage; having put 
their land to desolation, and an (£onic hissing." Ezek. 35: 5, 
mentions the azonic (old perpetuated) hatred of Esau's descendants 
for Jacob's. Passages also apply "asonic" to the duration of 
mountains, hills, the covenant of the rainbow, etc. 

N. T. — Rom. 16: 25, "kept secret in (Bonic (ancient) times.'" 
2 Th. 2:16, '' (Eonic consolation" — a phrase not applicable to those 
in the bliss of heaven, who therefore need no consolation. 2 Tim. 
1:9, "before azonic times." Shows again azonic joined with times, 
and these to have ended. So Tit. 1:2. As therefore applied to 
"life" or "destruction," "aeonic" has a graded sense correlated in 
duration and quality with the character of the person being blessed 
or destroyed. This will appear more and more as we proceed. I 
have given the correlated sense of "aeonic" a larger treatment in 
The Purpose of the ^ons. 

§ 13 («)» (p- 25). Illogical Conception of Sin. — i. What a ridic- 
ulous argimient is that of some, who contend that a sin against the 
Infinite (which all sin is) is an infinite sin; which means, that sin, 
like God, is infinite, and that if I put myself in opposition to any- 
thing I become that thing ! What is against the Infinite becomes in- 
finite. If I strike a pump, I become a pump. If I oppose the Bible, 
I am a Bible; if then the devil, I am a devil! With ordinary people 



298 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the exact opposite is the truth; namely, that if I follow the devil, 
I become a devil; and if I oppose him, it is godlike. But moreover, 
to make a finite man contain an infinite sin (!) which cannot have 
an end whatever God may do, is to ascribe superior godlike qual- 
ities to that which is wholly of the devil, and therefore pays honour 
to him, rather than to God! But here let me note a distinction, 
lest some should be confused. To sin against God does indeed 
prove that I have an independent free-will, and within its sphere 
am a god; just as the devil suggested to Eve; but that is because 
of the free-will, which is of God, not because of the sin, which is 
of the devil. » While the former proves me godlike, the latter 
proves me devilish. So "the man of sin" may usurp the throne 
of God in the heart of man, but he does not therefore hold that 
throne forever. It is one thing to pretend; it is quite another to be. 
It is one thing to usurp, as it were, divine attributes; but quite 
another for the pretender to be the God that he pretends to be. 

2 . The argument for the infinity of sin was accordingly a ridic- 
ulously lame device, whereby theologians thought to justify its 
infinite punishment, both in degree and duration. The argument, 
in fact, is utterly opposed to the explicit revelations of the Bible, 
which unmistakably declare the wages of sin to be — Death! — 
even the final end of the sinner with his sin; — not an existence 
prolonged by sin to infinity; since this would make sin to beget — 
to be the Father of — Infinity! The argument however is in striking 
accord with the ravings of pantheism, which would imagine the 
sinner in the act of sin to be simply one of the Protean shapes which 
the Infinite according to this view is constantly assuming. In 
the face of the inconsistency of basing infinity upon a fleeting 
act, they in effect proclaim the fleeting act to be infinite, and the 
sinner to have had his existence infinitely prolonged thereby; or 
that sin, and not Christ, brought Life and Immortality to light! 
And thus man's efforts to reason respecting infinity, whether in 
the case of Christians or avowed pantheists, are alike abortive. 

3. The argument once more is in opposition to the Bible in 
asserting the correction of sin to be a vindictive act, instead of 
a proof of God's love. For the fundamental and distinguishing 
feature of Christianity is, that out of love for sinners the Father 
sent the Son to save them; and not from an infinite existence in 
a suffering state as the fruit of sin prolonging their lives, but from 
just the opposite result to this, namely, from Death; from the 

1 Many read the Bible without perceiving the subtility of the 
suggestion which was required to tempt to his undoing an unfallen, 
godlike creature. Gen. 3:5. 



Notes 299 



immediate wiping out of existence altogether. Nay, the answer 
of our Lord Himself to the idea of the infinity of sin is most em- 
phatic. He tells us: "Ye must be born again." "Verily, verily, 
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
Icingdom of God. " Surely, if it be true that man must be born 
again, or from above,* it implies in true Bible consistency that 
he died under sin, — not that sin had made him immortal; as 
must have been the case for him to contain an infinite sin. 
And his restoration to Life, after Sin had killed him, was 
done, we are expressly told, out of love, and therefore had 
no taint of vindictiveness. Rather, the mercy which could 
restore an unredeemed sinner to Life will not fail him when re- 
deemed, but will endure forever. The purpose of the restoration 
will always be kept in view; and no everlasting retribution will 
ever take the place of the judgment which proves the continuance 
of redeeming love, and is for that very reason reformatory, and in 
strict accordance with -finite deeds, or never for so-called "infinite 
sin. " 

§ 15 («), (p- 30)- Reason Recognises Man's Duality. — ^How 
clearly reason alone, apart from revelation, recognises our dual na- 
ture, or the old and the new man within us, and their mutual state 
of incessant hostility, as depicted in Rom. 7, may be illustrated 
by the interesting incident narrated by Xenophon about Araspes 
and the beautiful captive intrusted to his charge, whose honour 
he had attempted in vain to violate. After he had been brought 
to grief and shame for his breach of trust, Cyrus points out to him 
how, even because thereof, he could be of great service to him 
by pretending to desert to the enemy, and gaining a knowledge 
of their plans. Araspes immediately grasps at the opportunity 
of proving that he could once again be faithful. Said Cyrus, "And 
can you leave the beautiful Panthea?" The reply of Araspes has 
been thus translated : 

"Yes, Cyrus; for I have plainly two souls. I have now philos- 
ophised this point out by the help of the wicked sophister Love; 
for a single soul cannot be a good one and a bad one at the same 
time, nor can it, at the same time, effect both noble actions and vile 
ones. It cannot incline and be averse to the same thing at the 
same time; but it is plain there are two souls, and when the good 
one prevails, it does noble things; when the bad one prevails, it 
attempts vile things. But now that it has got you for a support, 

» The word used has a double meaning, causing Nicodemus to 
understand "born again," when our Saviour meant, "bom from 
above. " 



1 

300 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the good one prevails, and that very much." Instit. of Cyrus, vi., 
I, 41. 

See §§ 76-78, 124, 124 (6). 

§ 22 (a), (p. 41). " Articulus Positivus." — i. From my unpub- 
lished The Purpose of theMons, § 280 (a), ^ 3,1 would quote, in re- 
spect of the passage "that He might be just and justifying, the 
(justifying) by Jesus' Faith," in substance, as follows: The Greek 
article in this passage is called by scholars articulus postpositivus 
(in Greek apBpov vitoraHTiHov) , to distinguish it from the ordinary 
article prefixed to its noun, or articulus prcBpositivus, in Greek 
apBpov itpozaKTiKov. So placed, it has a relative or demonstrative 
force. 1 Articulus "postpositivus vero dicitur Graece vTtoraKTiHbv, 
quod Nominibus tantum postponitur, ide6que fungitur officio Pro- 
nominis relativi, ut significatio ostendit, oS, ?7, o, qui, quae, quod. " 
Constantini Rhodocanacidis Chiensis Tractatus alter de Articulis. 
This treatise is inserted at the end of the Cornelii Schrevelii Lexicon 
GrcBco-Latinum. To illustrate more obviously the relative force 
of the article as thus used in Rom. 3: 26 we may translate, "that 
He might be just and justifying, which latter is by Jesus' Faith." * 
The idea is a distinction between God's intrinsic justice and His 
justifying, which is by Jesus' Faith. In Himself He is always 
righteous; but to make us righteous required the Faith of Christ, 
even of the Incarnate God. The Greek is, bH to eivat, avrov 
dixccLov, x^^ dtxociovvva tov ix Ttidreooi ^Irfdov. 

2. I append a few additional examples of the articulus post- 
positivus, which are pertinent to our subject. Thus: Rom. 3: 24 
(in the same sentence and in immediate connection), "Being 

» For the referring and demonstrative force of the articulus 
prcBpositivus, where its noun has been previously used, see § 19, 
footnote. 

2 Indeed, in the above treatise, the article, when thus placed, 
is not considered as strictly an article. For a similar example see 
2 Tim. 1:9, which reads literally, "according to His own Purpose and 
Grace, the (latter) having been given us in Christ Jesus before 
aeonic times. " Here the reference of the article with its participle 
(these being in the singular number in the Greek) is not to the Pur- 
pose of God, which, of course, was not given to us, but to the Grace, 
which was given. Hence the article, which makes the distinc- 
tion, should properly be translated "the latter" (omitting the 
parentheses), in order to give its true referring force in the original. 
In this and other cases the use of parentheses or brackets is 
merely for the information of the reader, that he may see how 
the article in the several cases is, and should be, translated, es- 



Notes 3^^ 



justified freely by His Grace through the Redemption which is^ 
in Christ Jesus." Gal. 2: 20, "By Faith I live, that of the Son of 
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. " 2 Col. 2 : 12, " Hav- 
ing been together buried in Him in that s baptism {i. e. of Blood) ; 
in whom also ye have been together raised through the Faith of 
the operation of Go6.,\who * raised Him from the dead. " i Tim. 
i: 13, 14, "I obtained mercy, because, being ignorant, I acted in 
unbelief. And the Grace of our Lord superabounded, with Faith 
and Love, that, namely,^ in Christ Jesus." I. e., the apostle con- 
trasts his own helpless unbelief with Christ's abundant, all-powerful 
Faith. This removes the mountain of Death. 2 Tim. 1:13 is 
a similar example. Phil. 3: 8, 9, "I have suffered the loss of all 
things, . . . that I may profit by Christ, and be found in Him, 
not having mine own righteousness, which is * from (works of) 
law, but that which (is) through the Faith of Christ, the Righteous- 
ness of God by the said Faith.? For other examples see Eph. 

pecially when occurring after its noun. In an example like i Tim. 
1 : 14, however, the article refers to the whole idea going before, 
and is to be construed grammatically with the subject of the verb 
or the leading noun — i. e., with "Grace," and not with "Love," 
although the latter is the nearest noun; for the Grace and Faith 
and Love are alike declared to be superabundant in Christ Jesus, 
and not merely Love; — "that (Grace, with Faith and Love), 
namely, in Christ Jesus. " 

» Lit. "through the Redemption the in Christ Jesus. " We may 
translate as in the text, or, "that, namely, in Christ Jesus"; or, 
"through the Redemption, the (Redemption), namely, in," etc. 

2 This passage has two examples of the articulus postpositivus in 
immediate succession. The literal is "By Faith I live, the of the 
Son of God, the loved me," etc. We may also translate, "the 
(Faith) of the Son of God, the (Son of God) that loved me," etc. 

3 The referring and demonstrative force of "the" (articulus 
prcBpositivus). 

* Lit. "the" (a. postpositivus). 

5 Lit. "the" — i. e., "that Grace, with Faith and Love, which is 
in Christ Jesus. " 

6 Lit. "mine own righteousness the from law, but the through 
Christ's Faith"; — two examples again. We may also render, 
"the (righteousness) from law, but the (Righteousness) through 
Christ's Faith." 

1 The Greek is, "by the Faith"; the articulus prcepositivus having 
here a reference back to the Faith of Christ mentioned immediately 
before. 



302 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



2: 2, 7; 3: 7. I Th. 5: 19, etc. They are of frequent occurrence. t 

§24 (a), (p. 46). Life AND THE Law. — i. In Gal. 3: 21, but for the 
evident idea of the passage, I should translate with the a. v., 
"which could have given life," or, with the r. v., "which could 
make alive. " But St. Paul is speaking of the possibility of man, 
while still in existence, keeping some law, so that the result should 
not be the Death which had ensued through the failure to keep 
the severely holy law of God. He is not speaking of the giving 
of life, or of the making alive after failure, or after men are already 
dead in law, and therefore when they could keep no law, whether 
the law of holiness or any other. After failure, the glory of keeping 
law could not of course be man's; and, being dead, no logical suppo- 
sition could be made as to his keeping of another law to restore 
himself to life. The supposition refers therefore to the period 
before his failure and consequent Death, when the glory of the 
keeping of law might have been man's. If at that time a law, 
not so difficult to keep, had been possible, by the keeping of which 
the then living man could have preserved the life which he then 
had, verily, says the apostle, the good God would have given to 
man the glory of the righteousness of keeping such a law. In other 
words, the supposition of the passage is not that of a restoration 
to life after a disastrous failure, but of an avoidance of the failure 
altogether, and of the consequent glory to a man of living by his 
own faith as a just or righteous man, instead of having to depend 
upon the Righteousness of Christ to be made alive. It is a sup- 
position of man's preserving his own life, if it had been possible, 
in avoidance of the necessity of having to be redeemed and justified. 
The Greek word used in the passage may be independently trans- 
lated in all three of the above ways; and accordingly its exact 
meaning, as used, must be determined by the context. 2 

» For the defining and particularising force of the articulus 
prcepositivus, even when used before abstract nouns, see also § 29, 
next to last footnote. Wherever, in fact, the article has a relative 
or referring force, to translate it simply "the" would not be a 
strictly literal translation, inasmuch as it would fail to convey 
the idea of the original. Thus, in Phil. 3:9 (in the text) "by the 
Faith" would not be a correct rendering; but we should say in 
English "by the said Faith," or "by that Faith," or "by His 
Faith, " or should use some equivalent expression. To omit the 
article altogether in such cases is not to translate, but to interpret. 
See § 19, footnote. Also § 41. 

2 It provokes a smile to hear scholars speak of the superior pre- 
cision of the Greek language over the English. The truth is, very 



Notes 303 



2. St. Paul in his brief way speaks of the "law" as the possible 
source of life in his hypothesis. But he means of course, as shown 
by the whole context, the keeping of the law. For the apostle 
is not so unphilosophic as to suppose, as does the loose language 
of many modern scientists, that mere law, without an operating 
agent, can do anything. Law in itself, it should always be borne 
in mind, is not a self-operating cause of action, but only "a rule 
of action," which at all times requires to be enforced. It is in 
no sense an operating entity, or possessed of itself of the power 
of producing resiilts, but is merely the rule which the actual operat- 
ing entity observes. The uniform, so-called, results of the laws 
of nature, for example, merely manifest how uniform is the never- 
absent action of the unchangeable God. They are the visible 
proofs of the Great Power behind them, and of His uniform manner 
of action; and we call them laws, because His action is ever uniform; 
— that is, where uniformity in the law remains consistent with His 
unchangeably godlike nature; which of course is not that of a 
subject or slave bound to observe the law, but of the Supreme 
Sovereign, who can always consistently adapt His voluntary action 
to the changeful condition of the creature. In our passage, it is 
man who is supposed to be the operating agent behind the law, 
and who is to keep the same. And so, for this reason also, his 
keeping of the hypothetic law must be while he is a living, active 
entity; or not where his keeping of law has already been tested, 
and certainly not where, having failed, he is dead under law, and 
no longer can observe any law whatever. Then, indeed, he must 
have life given; he must be made alive; and there can be no more a 
supposition of his keeping law. That supposition refers exclu- 
sively therefore to the time when his life might have been pre- 
served. "If there had been law given, which could have preserved 
alive, verily the above mentioned 1 righteousness would have been 
from law"; — that is, instead of from Christ; for man would not 
then have needed a Redeemer and Justifier. 

§25 (a), (p. 47). Pauline Conceptions. — i. It would assistus 
the better to understand St. Paul's obscurities, if we should group 
together some of the numerous contrasted expressions in which he 
clothes the universality of his ideas; remembering always that 
each pair of these contrasted expressions, or each one taken singly, 

naturally, that in some things, here or there, each is superior in 
precision to the other; but that the advantage is more often with 
the English; and not unfrequently the superiority claimed for the 
Greek exists only in the scholar's pedantic imagination. 

1 Lit. "the"; which is equivalent in its referring force to "the 
above mentioned. " 



304 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



has its respective reference to the great doctrine of Justification 
of Life, or to Primary Regeneration; which subject he is thus 
diversely presenting to our attention. For brevity's sake, and 
to avoid constant repetition, and to give greater interest and life 
to what he says, he would convey by a single expression, or pair 
of expressions, in a varied manner, the great fundamental truth, 
that, in the place of the "old" life, whose sins had overwhelmed 
it in death, there has sprung up from Christ, by His Faith and 
Works, through an act of Grace, a "new" immortal life, which 
man of himself could never have gained by any faith or other 
works of his own; but which he receives as a pure Gift of Grace from 
God; a Gift which, being bestowed upon sinners, is not because of 
anything of merit in them, and therefore is not conditioned upon 
anything of merit in them, whether faith or other thing, but is 
given alone because of the merits and death of the Justifier, and is 
therefore unconditional, or upon all alike, and in equal measure; 
like all other gifts of Him who is no respecter of persons. Not 
that God does not recognise merits ; for, in respect of progressive 
regeneration, or the increase of the "new life," the faith of man 
has its due reward, and so does his every other work. But when 
the apostle speaks of the Justification of Life, he takes repeated 
care to tell us that he is not speaking of earnings, but of that which 
is of necessity purely a Gift, and a Gift to all alike; and some of 
his contrasted expressions are expressly chosen to illustrate this 
aspect of the truth. 

2. Those expressions which I shall select from St. Paul's writ- 
ings as conveying in brief all the features of this great doctrine, 
whether from one aspect or another, are intended as examples, 
to which the reader may add others. They are on the one hand 
as follows: — The Gospel, Grace, the Righteousness of God by 
Faith of Jesus Christ, the Righteousness of God, the Gift of Right- 
eousness, Righteousness, the Righteousness of Faith, the Faith of 
Jesus Christ, the Faith of Christ, Christ, Faith, the Faith of the Son 
of God, the Faith of God, the Law of Faith, the Faith, the Faith of 
Abraham (by way of illustration only, but never otherwise the 
Faith of the creature), the Spirit, the Spirit of Life, the Quickening 
Spirit, the Spirit of Adoption, or, better, of Sonship, the New Man, 
the New Creature, New Things, the Mind of the Spirit, etc., etc. 

3. In contrast with these we have the following: — the Law 
(referring to the moral law, — the pure and perfect law, which man 
could not keep, which, indeed, is expressly described as "spiritual, " 
"perfect," and "good"), the Commandment, the Law contained 
in Ordinances, the Works or Deeds of the Law, the Law of Works, 
Works or Deeds, the Old Man, Old Things, the Flesh, the Body 



Notes 305 



of Sin, the Body of Death, the Mortal Body, the Law in my Members, 
the Mind of the Flesh, the Law of Sin and Death, Nature, etc., etc. 

4. Not that these expressions, respectively, are the equivalents 
always of each other by any means; although they often are; but 
that while each may have its own special sense, it brings our atten- 
tion to the whole subject from its own special point of view; which 
is the case also of certain more neutral expressions, such, for ex- 
ample, as "the Righteousness of the Law," or "the Law of Right- 
eousness," — expressions which call to mind what "Works" could 
not fulfil, and what Christ did fulfil. Thus it is said, that man, 
by striving, did not attain unto "the Law of Righteousness," but 
received Righteounsess as a Gift, without effort. And accordingly 
we have the contrast of "the Law of Righteousness," or "that 
Righteousness which is of the Law," and "the Righteousness 
which is through the Faith of Christ," or, more briefly, "the 
Righteousness of Faith. "* 

5. For the better illustration of the subject, and of the apostle's 
meaning in the use of these diversified expressions, all relating to 
the same great fundamental basis of spiritual life, let me couple 
a few of them as they are employed in contrast with each other. 
For while they are all familiar enough perhaps, and some of them 
may be easily recognised as referring either to Primary Regenera- 
tion, or to Justification unto Life; 2 as, for example, the Law and 
the Gospel, or the Law and Grace; others again are generally 
applied by readers, in an exclusive sense, to the Progressive Life, 
or to its opposite, to the great misconception of the inspired writer's 
train of reasoning. The following additional contrasted examples 
are made the more numerous, therefore, in the hope of correcting 
somewhat this prevalent tendency. Thus the following also all 
have for their chief intention the subject of Primary Regenera- 
tion, or of Justification by Christ Jesus, in contrast with the im- 
possibility thereof by the Works of men, in due subordination 
to the apostle's course of thought, to wit: — The Works of the Law 
and the Faith of Jesus Christ, the Righteousness of the Law and 
the Righteousness of God by Faith of Jesus Christ, the Law and 
Faith {i. e., of Jesus Christ), Faith {i. e, of Jesus Christ) and Works, 3 
the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and the Law of Sin 
and Death, the Law of the Flesh and the Law of the Spirit, the 
Spirit and the Flesh, the Mind of the Spirit and the Mind of the 
Flesh, the Carnal Mind and the Spiritual Mind, the Carnal and the 

1 See Rom. 9: 30, 31; 10: 4. Phil. 3 : 6, 9. 

2 Regeneration is the consequence of justification and atonement, 
and is therefore not the equivalent of justification. 

3 See Eph. 2: 8-10. Rom. 3: 27, 28, etc. 



I 



306 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



spiritual, the Mortal Body and the Spiritual Body, the Old Man 
and the New Man, the Body of Death and the Spirit of Life, the 
Body which is dead because of Sin and the Spirit which is Life 
because of Righteousness, (more briefly) the Body of Sin and the 
Spirit of Life, Life and Death, Death (the First Death) aitd Resur- 
rection, Death in Christ and Life in Him, to Suffer (Death) with 
Him and to be Glorified (in Life) with Him, etc. Some of these 
contrasts may have, with the inceptive, also a progressive and a 
perfected sense; but the first is the primary intention, in sub- 
ordination to the writer's line of thought. 

§ 25 (6), (p. 48). The Necessity of Sanctification, — i. The ne- 
cessity of voluntary and perfect sanctification is the constant teach- 
ing of the sacred writers. Even in the short epistle of St. Jude we 
read: "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy 
Faith, praying in a holy spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, 
looking to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ during (or, for) 
asonic Life." The descriptive "most holy" here is only appli- 
cable to the perfect Faith of Christ; which alone can be the sure 
Foundation on which the sacred writer directs us to build. Indeed, 
he expressly declares himself to be writing with all diligence of 
"the common salvation" (v. 3), or of our new birth of Water and 
the Spirit; and inasmuch as he proclaims the Lord's people of old, 
after being saved from death, to be because of unbelief "destroyed 
the second time" (v. 5 of the Greek), and the wicked in general 
to be "twice dead" (v. 12), he therefore exhorts us to build our- 
selves up on that most holy Faith which saved us all; even giving 
us "the common salvation" as a common Foundation for our 
building, and "a holy spirit" in which to keep ourselves "in God's 
love, " and to look to the mercy of the Lord Jesus even of our 
great Judge, "during asonic Life, " or during that ason of judgment 
when mercy is needed. Compare as follows:* 

2. 2 Th. 2: 13, "God hath from the beginning chosen you for 
salvation by sanctification of spirit and (the) Faith of (the) Truth " ; 
or, omitting the inserted articles, "Truth's Faith;" or again, and 
as literally, "belief of truth"; this, however, being not only tau- 
tological, but an omission of the primary Source of our election 
from the beginning, — a Source which in such statements by the 
N. T. writers invariably receives prominent not ice. 2 The idea is, 

> I select examples in which the meaning is sometimes misunder- 
stood. 

2 Eph. 1:4-6; 3:2-5, 9. Rom. 16:25, 26. I Cor. 2:5-8. Col. 
1:26-28. 2 Tim. 1:8-10. Tit. 1:2,3. ^ Pet. 1:2,17-23. Rev. 
13:8; 17:8. 



Notes 2>oy 



therefore, Christ's Faith and the sanctifying Spirit (the latter being 
implied), as the Foundation; and then, also, (through good works) 
" Sanctification of spirit" in each individual case, as the Super- 
structure; like as the same writer teaches in i Cor. 3:8-17. The 
phrase "sanctification of spirit," without an article to give definite- 
ness, evidently means a spirit which is to be sanctified, but im- 
plies, of course, the Spirit who is the Sanctifier. 

3. In Tit. 3 : 5 we have first, as usual, a statement of the Founda- 
tion: — "through a washing of regeneration and a renewing of a holy 
spirit." — It is not a washing by material water, but by the Water 
of Life; giving us a birth into everlasting Life of Water and the 
Spirit, and so the Salvation from Death. Indeed, in express terms 
it is represented as a salvation of the past, and according to the 
mercy of God our Saviour; or "not because of works, those in right- 
eousness which we have done"; but solely because of our Justifi- 
cation by Grace, and consequent heirship of eternal Life. With 
emphasis it is added: *' Reliable is that 1 statement; and by reason 
of these things I will have thee affirm confidently, that they who 
have believed God be careful^ to set value on good works. These 
are good and profitable unto men" (v. 8). And so we have the 
Superstructure . 

4. I Pet. I : I, 2, "elect . . . through 3 sanctification of spirit, 
because of * (the) obedience and sprinkling of (the) blood of Jesus 

» Lit, "the," with its usual referring force. 

2 Or, "of these things I will have thee keep affirming confidently; 
in order that they who have believed God may be careful " etc. 
See § 124; also the rendering of vv. 4-7 in § 12, footnote. 

3 Or, hy virtue of, or in, or in regard of, or through, etc. 

* In the main, the normal meaning of eis is for; but after verbs 
of motion generally into, to, or in, and less often than these unto. 
Both eis and the English "for" correspond in general very closely 
in meaning, and even in such examples as, "they departed for 
(or into) their own country another way" (Matt. 2:12). Other 
instances of the use of eis are: "good /or nothing"; — "good for 
food." — "Take nothing for your journey," Luke 9:3 — "For {be- 
cause of) what (*. e.. Why) hath this waste of the ointment been 
made?" Mk. 14:4. This sense of purpose or object, and also of 
cause (as in the case of the English "for "), is very frequent; "why " 
or "wherefore," for example, often being our rendering for the 
literal "/or {eis) what? " With words of time eis signifies for, or 
during, or at the time, or never "unto" in the sense of "until" the 
time. This is a matter of incalculable importance in the rendering 
of many Bible passages, as will again and again appear. The 
absence of a deferring sense from eis settles the question of a post- 



I 

/ 

308 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Christ" — literally, "Jesus Christ's obedience and sprinkling of 
blood." — Thus far this passage also tells only of what is funda- 
mental. It is the consistent echo of St. Peter to the various 
utterances of his "beloved brother Paul"; the passage declaring 
those of the Dispersion sojourning in various parts of Asia Minor 
to be elect "by foreknowledge of God" through sanctification of 
spirit because of the Life of Righteousness and the Death of Jesus 
Christ. But the apostle goes on to proclaim how this is the en- 
during Foundation of a final salvation ready to be revealed at 
last, and rejoices therein, "though now for a brief season, if need 
be," he says, we are distressed by varied temptations, and our 
faith tried by fire; thus in turn introducing the necessary Super- 
structure, and following it up at length. 

5. Heb. 6 14, 5, "have tasted of the Heavenly Gift (Christ, who 
is our Life), and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have 
tasted the good Word of God,i and the powers of the life to come, 
and have fallen away," etc. And then follows, as usual, a pro- 
claiming of the necessity of a fiery judgment, to incite the unproduc- 
tive soul to superstructural work. 

6. 2 Pet. 1:1-5, "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of 
Jesus Christ, to them that have had allotted a common precious 
faith with us in the Righteousness of our God and Saviour 2 Jesus 
Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge 
of God and of Jesus our Lord ; forasmuch as His Divine Power 
hath given us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness, through 
His 3 knowledge that * hath called us by (or, through) His own Glory 
and Virtue ; s whereby have been given us promises that are precious 
and exceeding great; that through these we may become partakers 
of a divine nature, having escaped the corruption {i. e. Death) that 
through (or, hy reason of) lust is in the world. ^ Yea, and for this very 

poned judgment day, and gives a common-sense meaning to the 
many passages which tell of the speedy coming of the Lord in 
judgment. 

1 See I Pet. 1:25, 

2 The literal rendering; — like to v. 11 and 3:18. And see 2:20 
and 3: 2. 3 Lit. "the." 

* Lit. "of the" — i. e., "through the knowledge of him that, " etc. 
s Some authorities leave out "His own." So the a. v.; which 

also, in using "to" for "by," fails to ascribe the glory and virtue 
to Christ, the GoD-Man. The r. v. translates "by his own," etc. 
The preposition is en, and often, like its twin-fellow eis, has a causal 
and an instrumental sense; here, through, by, or by reason of "His 
own" (idia), etc. 

* "Having escaped." That is, the escape was in the past from 



Notes 309 



cause, having brought to your aid all diligence, allyi with (or, in 
[en] ) your faith virtue " ; etc. That is to say, the apostle again first 
tells of the Foundation, and then of the Superstructure, as in his 
formep epistle. It is first the Faith of Christ, or His Righteousness, 
whence, we have all things pertaining to Life and Godliness, with 
exalted promises; and then, and because of such gifts and promises, 
he urges, among other things, "Wherefore, the more, brethren, 
give diligence to make 2 your calling and election sure : for these 
things doing ye shall never be falling: for thus shall be richly 
supplied 3 unto (or, provided for) you the way into the eternal 
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

the Death that is in the world, or in "the old man" within us all. 
The passage is a reminder of Jas. 1:15, "Then the lust having 
conceived produceth sin : and the sin, when accom.plished, bringeth 
forth Death. " See also i Cor. 15:50-57. i John 2 : 16, 17; 4:3, 4; 
5:4, 19- 

iThe verb in the a. v. is rendered here ac^c^; elsewhere minister, — 
in the r. v. here supply. Derivatively the idea is lead on the chorus; 
metaphorically, combine, associate, ally; and so, contribute, supply, 
provide, etc. The chorus on the present occasion may be said to 
be faith, virtue, knowledge, self-restraint, endurance, godliness, 
brotherly kindness and love; with faith as the leader, and love as 
the finisher of the new Life. 

2 Codex A, and other MSS., have "make through your good 
works your calling, " etc. 

3 The same verb before rendered (in view of the context) "ally," 
the r. V. renders here "supplied." It is an alliance with, or a con- 
tribution from on high to, our works; — in this, true to the derivative 
idea of the word; we being therein "God's f ellow- workers " (i Cor. 
3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1. Acts 15:4). The metaphysical senses of the Greek 
verb would naturally arise from its use in slang. Just as in English 
one of a free heart offering to bear all expenses in a common 
matter might say, "I '11 furnish the band," or, "I '11 provide the 
music," or, " I '11 pay the piper "; so a Greek might say, "I '11 supply 
the chorus." And then it would only remain for the slang of one 
generation to become the classic language of another. The freeness 
and fulness of the supply lingers in the metaphorical meanings 
of the word as used by the apostle. Here it is emphasised in the 
"richly." The "add" of the a. v. in v. 5, should consistently 
have been used here, and would have been as " added " much better 
than its "ministered," or than other words which make no obvious 
reference to a joint undertaking, or to man as working and God as 
helping and rewarding. The scriptural, symbolic number for new 
life is eight; and there can be no harm in noting that there are just 



31 o The Foundation and the Superstructure 

§ 35 («)» (P- 66). Theological Error from Rom. 5: i8. — Rom. 5: 
18. (See also 3:23, 24.) The apparent ambiguity of the Greek has led 
the r. V. into theological error in this passage ; for that version would 
make our justification to depend upon a single act of righteousness, 
instead of upon the entire righteous life of Christ unto death. 
Literally, indeed, in the verse, we might translate "through one 
transgression," as well as "through one's transgression"; and 
"through one righteousness," as well as "through One's righteous- 
ness "; and it is one of the many examples which, contrary to what 
pedantry affects, show the surpassing clearness of the English 
language at times over the Greek. However, the ambiguity is only 
apparent, and the translation of the a. v. is clearly correct. With- 
out commenting on the awkwardness of "one righteousness," 
which forced the r. v. to translate "one act of righteousness," 
it hardly seems possible to a reader of the whole context to change 
abruptly from the continual repetitions about one person (Adam 
or Christ) to translating in an isolated instance "one trespass " (r. v.) 
and "one righteousness," especially where we are compelled by so 
doing to "revise" to "one (act of) righteousness"! For just as in 
the immediately preceding verses (15-17) we had, according to the 
r. v.'s own translation, the phrases, "the trespass of the one," 
*'the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ," "one that sinned," 
**the judgment (came) of one unto condemnation," "by the 
trespass of the one, death reigned through the one," "in life through 
the one, (even) Jesus Christ"; — in all which instances one wan, 
Adam or Christ, is referred to; — and just as, straightway after 
(verse 19), also according to the r. v., we have, "For as through 
the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so 
through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous" ; 
so in verse 18 right between these several expressions, and pursuant 
to the same idea, as shown by the beginning of the verse, 1 it becomes 
literally, "through one's transgression," and "through One's 
Righteousness." How incongruous, as well as incorrect, is there- 
fore the translation of the r. v., although beginning with "So then "! 
It reads : " So then as through one trespass (instead of one's trespass) 
(the judgment came) unto all men to condemnation (mark this; 
for ''all men" are contrasted with one man, not with one trespass) \ 
even so through one act of righteousness (it is literally, as mentioned 
above, 'through One's Righteousness') (the free gift came) unto all 
men (it is the same contrast of all men with one man as before) to 
justification of life." 2 

eight members of St. Peter's chorus of good works to which he 
would urge us in consequence of the gift to us of the new life. 
» "Therefore" (a. v.), "So then" (r. v.). 2 See §23. 



Notes 311 



§ 42 (a), (p. 81). ^ONic Judgment. — The unavoidableness of aeonic 
Judgment, because of the Salvation from Death, or the unpardonable 
condition of the sinful, is shown, with the usual consistency of reve- 
lation, along with seonic Hope, in Heb. 6; which is as follows: 

"Wherefore leaving off the discussion of 1 the Beginning, (which is) 
of the Christ,2 let us go on unto the Finishing; 3 not laying again a 

1 Or, "our discourse concerning." 

2 "The Beginning of the Christ," or, "the Christ's Beginning," is 
here put in direct contrast with "the Finishing " ; in which latter only 
our repentance, faith, etc., have their part. For the "Finishing" 
here intended is each one's Superstructure. But the Finishing of 
the Faith which laid for us the Foundation was, like "the Beginning," 
of the Christ. As it is said in this very epistle, "Jesus the Beginner 
and Finisher of the Faith." What a misconception to render *' of 
our faith" in place of the literal "of the faith" of this passage! 
Obviously, it is the Faith of Him who is declared to be its Beginner 
and Finisher. And it is consistently styled " the Faith " in striking 
contrast with that of mere man, which repeatedly (23 times) in 
the preceding chapter had received even emphatic commendation 
without the article; and only with it once at the close, where it is 
used for " their." Moreover, to represent Jesus as the author and 
finisher (a. v.) or perfecter (r. v.) "of our faith" is to introduce 
compulsion into the Bible, contrary to its consistent free-will 
teaching. And it contradicts the rest of the passage; for why 
should we therein be exhorted, if our faith must be begun and 
finished for us ? In that case what can we do ? The only consistent 
view is, that the race was set before us, just as in fact the sacred 
writer himself says, and by One able to begin and finish the necessary 
Faith for that purpose, and that thereafter "the Finishing" lies 
in the running of that race; to which accordingly we are urged. 
Giving the passage literally as in the Greek, (although, it may be, 
preferring here or there some neater rendering of the versions,) we 
read: "Wherefore let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses 
encompassing us about, having put aside every weight and our 
(lit. the) easily besetting sin, run with endurance (see the same 
word presently as "endured") the race set before us, looking unto 
Jesus the Beginner and Finisher of the Faith; who for the joy set 
before Him endured a cross, having despised shame, and hath sat 
down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12 : i , 2. 

3 The Douay v.'s "unto things more perfect" (translating the 
Latin Vulgate instead of the Greek original) is horrible. What can 
be more perfect than "Christ's Beginning"? Surely we need 
an absolutely perfect Foundation. There is no such idea as "things 



312 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



foundation » of repentance from dead works ;2 and of faith in God, J 

more perfect" in the original Greek. There it is "the Finishing" 
— a noun in the singular number. 

» N. B. — "a f."; — so the Greek and the r. v.; but the a. v. and 
the Douay v., wrongly " the f." There is no article in the Greek. 
And very properly; for the things mentioned, repentance, faith, 
teaching, etc., belong to the Finishing, and are not to be laid as a 
foundation; and for the Hebrew converts addressed to be laying 
them again as a foundation would be to forsake the Foundation 
laid by Christ, and to return "again" to their anti-Christian faith 
of Works. Note the consistency of inspiration. 

2 Or, "from works of the dead." — But how, pray, can the dead 
do works? How effect their own resurrection? Thus, whichever 
way we translate, our works are considered as dead, and (without 
Christ) as of the dead; and so, impossible to be laid as a foundation 
of Life. Nay, rather, they caused our Death; and after being 
killed by them, it is too late to lay a foundation of repentance 
from them. But now that the one only Foundation, which is 
Christ our Life, has been laid, and we have the Gift of Life through 
Him through whom alone all godly Life must come, or after "the 
Christ's Beginning," then all subsequent works properly belong to 
his Superstructure, or to "the Finishing." And of course this 
is true of our Baptism, which, with our faith, is one of the works 
named. Baptism illustrates, teaches, and builds up; but it does not 
regenerate. And accordingly we may well say, "the teaching of 
baptisms and of laying on of hands," whether it be a correct trans- 
lation in the above text or not. But it is the GoD-Man who begets 
in us the Water of Life, or causes us to be born of Water and the 
Spirit, and altogether independently of human works, whether of 
man's faith or of any adventitious or fortuitous reception of bap- 
tism or other ceremony on the part of man. 

3 The sacred writer, as usual, omits the emphasising article before 
"faith," where the faith is ours. The word occurs in the epistle 
32 times, and only four of these with the article; to wit: 12:2, 
where it is the Faith of Him who is its Beginner and Finisher; 11:39, 
in the phrase, " And these all . . . through if^^ir faith; 13:7, 
in the phrase, ''the faith of whom," — i. e., as translated, "whose 
faith " ; and 4 : 2 , in the phrase, ' * not being mixed with the same faith ' ' ; 
the need of faith by the people in the wilderness having been pre- 
viously mentioned. Or, perhaps, (see Rom. 10:17), we should 
translate, "not being blended (or, mixed) with their faith in those 
that heard." Codex "D," with other authorities, reads, "not 
being blended with the faith of those that heard." 



Notes 313 



of (the) teaching of baptisms and laying on of hands, » and of a 
resurrection of the dead and of aeonic judgment. 2 And this will 

» Or, "of baptisms, of teaching, and of laying on of hands," — a 
strictly literal rendering, and following the order of the Greek. 

2 As rendered in the text six things are separately named, — an 
appropriate number for "the Finishing," or period of "Works." 
In the preceding note there are seven; a number telling more 
surely of "Finishing," and so properly including our final resurrec- 
tion to the life of Heaven, or from the Second Death; just as our 
primary resurrection was from the First. I have followed the 
r. v. in the text in translating "of (the) teaching of," etc. ; but 
prefer the rendering in the preceding note. And, among other 
things, first, because of the order of the words in the Greek; and, 
secondly, because the latter reading is so strictly literal as not even 
to require, like the former, the addition to the Greek of "the " before 
teaching. The omission of the article before both "resurrection" 
and "dead" in the phrase "of a resurrection of dead (men)," as is 
the literal, may have been because the writer had in view a several 
attainment of resurrection of individuals, each in his own order 
(i Cor. 15:23), and not at all any general resurrection of all the 
dead at the same time; for if this had been his idea, then the phrase 
"the resurrection of the dead" would have been his natural form 
of expression ; whereas the avoidance of the phrase shows in relation 
to the Finishing another idea to have been uppermost in his mind. 
In fact, the enumeration of "a resurrection" with things belonging 
to "the Finishing" indicates at once that the sacred writer is not 
speaking of the primary resurrection to Life and Immortality, 
which is of the Foundation, or of "the Christ's Beginning," but 
of a resurrection from the Second Death, even of those who are 
dead while they live (i Tim. 5:6); — a resurrection which, unlike 
the other, is not of the past, and of all at the same time, but which 
has an obvious correlated connection with aeonic judgment. In 
Eph. 5: 13-17 we read: "But all things exposed under the light 
are made manifest: for all is light that is made manifest. Where- 
fore (he) saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. Look therefore carefully 
how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time be- 
cause the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not senseless, but under- 
stand what the will of the Lord is." Of the seven things of the 
Finishing the first five, the proper symbolic number, represent the 
works of man, and the other two those of Christ and the Spirit. 
Apart from teaching, which in the Greek occupies the fourth, or 
central position, the things are given in pairs; first, repentance and 
faith, or inward religion; then baptisms and laying on of hands, 



314 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



we do,» if at least God permit. * For it is impossible to renew 

representing outward religion; and lastly, resurrection and judg- 
ment. In addition, Baptism tells of Grace and of the First Resur- 
rection, or the Gift of Life through Christ; while the laying on of 
hands is expressive of "Works," and of the "seonic judgment" 
of the Spirit, or of the judgment which from aeon to aeon keeps 
even pace with Sinfulness, ever inexorably insisting that every man 
shall be perfect in his deeds. Often, indeed, the conditions of this 
life necessitate a transference to another, where sinfulness still 
finds itself unforgiven, and exposed to aeonic judgment. 

lOr, "should we do"; some authorities using the indicative, and 
some the subjunctive. 

3// at least God permit. This would seem to relate to seonic 
judgment and our former life, and, too, to the awful necessity of 
that temporal election of some to suffer for others through the 
providential circumstances daily visible around us. If in the 
fall of our race, or during the aeons of the past, some have been 
instrumental in pulling their fellows down, it is but just that out 
of the common pit of destruction these evil ones should have put 
upon them in the Finishing the most terrible burden of all in push- 
ing their betters up. If, on the other hand, it is ours to have a more 
favorable election, what a blessed privilege, what a glorious oppor- 
tunity it is, to " go on unto the Finishing " ! Verily, if God so permit, 
then "to Him be glory both now and for a day of an aeon." 2 Pet. 
3:18. But shall we have the same permission in the next aeon, or 
become in our turn of the non-elect, and not be permitted to "go 
on unto the Finishing"? The matter rests with ourselves; and the 
judgment of the coming aeon will be according to our deeds in this. 
"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for the 
aeons." Matt. 6: 13. The wise preacher said, "God hath made 
man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Ec. 
7 : 29. How many aeons may have possibly been ours, since we 
began to follow our own devices? How many may yet remain? 
Is it then ourselves, who were once upright angels in heaven, who 
have been cast down to earth (Rev. 12:9), even to a Tartaric hell, 
"for a judgment of a great day" (2 Pet. 2: 4. Jude 6)? Certain 
it is, that, notwithstanding our knowledge of the truths of the 
Gospel and our taste of heavenly gifts, it is impossible to renew 
us again to repentance, without the constant administration of 
aeonic judgment according to our deeds. As presently to be 
said in the chapter, we are like bad land, producing only thorns 
and thistles, whose end is in burning. Such are the terrible in- 
ducements put before us in Holy Writ, to urge us to hasten the day 
of God (2 Pet. 3 : 7-13), or that resurrection from the Second Death, 



Notes 315 



again unto repentance those who have once been enlightened, 
and have tasted of the heavenly Gift, and have been made par- 
takers of the Holy Ghost, » and have tasted the good Word of 
God, and the powers 2 of the life^ to come, and have fallen away; 
seeing they have crucified in themselves the Son of God, and put 
Him to an open shame. For land which hath drunk the rain that 
Cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose 
sake it is also tilled, receiveth therewith a blessing from God: 
but when bearing thorns and thistles, it is adulterated-like, and 
nigh unto a curse; thereof the end* is in burning. s But, beloved, 
we are persuaded better things of you, and things that follow 
hard on to salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not un- 
righteous to forget your work and the love which ye have shewed 
for His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do 
minister. And we desire that each one of you do show the same 
diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end : ^ that ye be 
not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience 
inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, 
since He could swear by none greater, He sware by Himself, saying, 
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 
And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For 
men swear by the greater; and unto them of every controversy the 
oath for confirmation » is final. « Wherein God, being minded more 

for the attainment of which St. Paul so laboriously strove (Phil. 
3: 10-21). If then in this life God permit, let us heed the apostle 
when he says: "And we also working together (with Him — i. e., 
Christ) do beseech you not to have received the Grace of God in 
vain. (For He saith, . . . behold, now is a day of salvation.)" 
2 Cor. 6:1, 2. Are we candidates for debasement in the next 
aeon, or for high exaltation therein; — aye, it may be, for heaven? 
If at least God permit, let us, indeed, go on unto the Finishing. 

» Or, literally, and more correctly, "of a holy spirit," thus re- 
ferring to our better nature, that sonship to God, of which we 
"have been made partakers," while of the other things we only 
taste. 2 /, e^^ inspiring energies. 3 ^on. 

4/. e., result. "Whereof" refers to the curse on the land, not 
to the land as having a final end. 

sThe word translated "adulterated-like," for lack of a more 
appropriate word, is applied to alloyed metals which need burning 
for their purification. The land, because of its products (works), 
is nigh unto a curse, and at last must have the thorns and thistles 
burnt out of it to become acceptable. 

6 A Greek idiom for "unto perfection." 

» Or, "in settlement." « Or, "a finality," which is more literal. 



3i6 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutabihty 
of His counsel, became a mediator i by oath : that by two immutable 
things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong 
encouragement, who have fled for refuge, 2 to lay hold of the hope 
set before us; which, as an anchor of the soul, we have, both sure 
and steadfast, even entering into the inner side of the veil; whither 
a Forerunner for us has entered, (even) Jesus, having become a 
high priest for ever ^ after the order of Melchizedek." * 

§44 (a), (p. 83). Meaning OF "as MANY AS." — "As many as." It is 
a way the apostle has of stating what is meant to include everybody. 
He is fond of qualified or limited phrases like the foregoing, or such 
as "he who," "if any man be," etc., where he is really stating a 
universal law. . . . He is apparently afraid of men's per- 
verting the great boon of everlasting Life into a license to sin 
with impunity; and so he would alarm the conscience. 
In the following example, in spite of his partial method of speaking, 
the meaning is very plain (Rom. 2 : 11, 12; 3 : 20) : "For there is no 
respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without 
law {i. e., all the Gentiles) shall also perish without law; and as 
many as have sinned in the law {i. e., all the Jews) shall be judged 
(condemned to die) by the law. . . . Because by Works 
of law shall no flesh be justified (unto Life) in His sight" (i. e., be 
so righteous before God as not to be condemned to perish). 

Rom. 5: 12-21 is filled with partial expressions of universal 



1 Literally, mediated (see margin of r. v.). 

2 Or, as it may also be translated, "who have escaped," i. e.,iTom. 
Death. Indeed, I am inclined to this as the better rendering. 

3 Henceforth there in heaven, or nevermore upon earth, "to 
appear in the presence of God for us." Heb. 9: 12, 24-26; 10: 10— 
14. 2 Cor. 5: 16. John 16: 7, 28. 

* Hope accordingly enters into the next life and into all future 
lives, until it culminates in fruition. As pertaining to "the God 
of hope" (Rom. 15: 13), it is safely lodged in Him within the veil, 
in the Holy of Holies where Christ has entered, and is eternal. 
And hence we are told that God hath subjected us to the vanity of 
the natural world in hope; because we are ultimately to be delivered 
from that bondage into the liberty of the sons of God in glory 
(Rom. 8: 16-25. See § 45). Wherefore the Bible directs us to 
increase and abound in hope; making the same a duty, and the 
contrary a sin. Let those who do not believe in eternal hope give 
thought to this. 



Notes 317 



moaning. We read: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into 
the vv^orld, and Death by sin; and so Death passed upon all men, 
for that all have sinned : ( . . . But not like as the offence, so 
also is the free Gift, For if through the offence of the one the 
many, [i.e., all] died, much more the Grace of God, even the Gift by 
Grace, that of the One Man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto the 
many, [i.e., the same all]. And not like as through one that sinned 
is the Gift. For the judgment was from one to condemnation; but 
the free Gift is from many, all] offences unto justification. For if 
by the offence of the one Death reigned through the one; much 
more they, *. e., all] that receive the abundance of Grace and of the 
Gift of righteousness shall reign in Life by the One, Jesus Christ.) 
Therefore," etc. (For vv. 18-21 see § 35.) 

From the above and other like texts, and from what was said in 
§ 44, we readily discern the universal intention, when the apostle 
says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons 
of God." And yet such a sentence would bear in English also a 
partial construction if it had read, "For all who are," etc. So, 
if we substitute "all" for "they" in the immediately preceding 
sentence of the apostle. 

§ 75 (<^). (P- 144)- Mistranslation ofEkklesia. — I would give just 
here, i Tim. 3 : 14, 15. I do this, because it is one of the most impor- 
tant of the many mistranslations connected with ekklesia * which 
have been made in the interests of ecclesiasticism. The passage 
follows a ntmiber of minute directions to Timothy the young bishop 
of Ephesus respecting, among other things, the sort of persons 
whom he would ordain to be "overseers" or pastors of the several 
"congregations" of his diocese. Literally translated, it reads: 
"These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee quite 
shortly: but if I tarry, that thou mayest know how it is meet to 
conduct thyself in a 2 household of God, which is a congregation ^ 
of a living* God, a pillar and support of the truth." It will be 

» See §§ 68, 74, 90 (a), 106. 

2 The only "the" in the entire sentence in the Greek is the one 
before "truth." The other (no less than four) insertions of "the" 
have been added to the word of God by the spirit of ecclesiasticism, 
and have a decidedly important part in changing the idea of the 
inspired writer; making that to apply to the whole Church, which 
was only intended of a single congregation thereof. 

^ I. e., ekklesia. 

* God is here spoken of as "a living God," in contrast with the 
lifeless goddess Diana of the Ephesians, who, with her lifeless image, 
was specially worshipped in Timothy's diocese (Acts 19:23-41). 



31 8 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



seen that the passage does not declare, as do our versions, that "the 
Church" is ''the pillar and ground of the truth"; but only that a 
congregation of God is "a pillar and support" or "stay of the 
truth." 1 

In fact, ekklesia in the N. T., as in other Greek writings, is 
applied to persons gathered together, or considered as a body, 
whatever the purpose. Thus in Acts 19:32, 39, 41, it is an "as- 
sembly" in a theatre of the worshippers of the goddess Diana; 
just as in i Tim. 3:15 it is a "congregation" of Timothy's diocese. 
It is also applied to the whole body of mankind under the power 
of Hades (Matt. 16:18), who were to be delivered therefrom, and 
built upon the Rock-Foundation of Jesus Christ; that is, to the 
entire body of the redeemed 2 (Acts 20:28. Eph. 1:22; 5:25. 
Col. 1:18. Heb. 2:8-15, etc.). And it has reference also to the 
organized Church (i Cor. 10:32; 12:28; 15:9. Gal. 1:13. Phil. 
3 : 6. Rom. 16 : 22>),^ but more often to all men, our versions being 
misleading. Still, even in them its most frequent application, in 
accordance with its normal meaning, is, very naturally, to separate 

» The word hedraioma, here translated "support" or "stay," 
seems to be unique in this passage. It is, however, an evident 
derivative of hedra, which signifies a "support " in a sitting posture, 
a sitting-place, seat, chair, stool, bench, throne, abode or place. Hence : 
— a seat of religion, a sanctuary, temple, as we say, a seat of learning, 
or, as here, in the derivative, a ''seat of the truth"; also, the seat 
of a disease, the seat of the body, the back of a horse (where the 
rider sits) ; a bottom, foundation, base, etc. And so we might render 
as in all likelihood St. Paul intended, "a pillar and base of the 
truth." The idea of firmness and stability is naturally to be found 
in the derivatives also; and accordingly, although thereby abandon- 
ing, perhaps, St. Paul's consistent metaphor, I have been content 
to translate "support," or "stay" (the marginal rendering of the 
a. V. and r. v.), or by the literal "seat." But I prefer the consistent 
metaphor, "a pillar and base," 

2 For He hath gathered together all things into one body, even 
all whom He hath redeemed; and He is made the head over all 
or over that congregation of all things which is His body, and which 
in its entirety, and no less, is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. 
And of this all-including household of God He is the chief Corner 
Stone on which all are built. Eph. 1:4-10, 22, 23; 2:1, 20, 21; 
3:9, II, 12, 15; 4:6-16. 

3 These I believe to be all the examples referring strictly to the 
organized Church as a whole, after its enlargement into two or 
more congregations; but a single congregation is often mentioned. 



Notes 319 



congregations in the various localities whither the gospel had ex- 
tended. Of this use of ekklesia the examples are far more than of 
all others put together. 

§ 90 (a) , (p. 1 78). The Foundation Rock and Corner Stone. — 
I . After the great bishop of Hippo became more thoroughly versed in 
Greek we read of him as follows: " St. Augustine in his earlier writ- 
ings taught that St. Peter is the rock, but he afterwards gave up that 
view, and held that Christ is the rock. His words are, — ' I said 
in a certain place of the apostle St. Peter, that upon him as upon 
the rock the Church was founded. . . . But I know that 
afterwards I most often expounded that saying of our Lord — 
' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church ' — 
as meaning upon Him whom St. Peter confessed, saying, — 'Thou 
art the Christ the Son of the living God.' Let the reader choose 
which of these two interpretations is the more probable ' {Retract. 
Lb. i. c.i 21)." This may seem a threadbare subject to scholars; 
but what a pity it is that scholars do not more frequently instruct 
the people in these same threadbare subjects. There is no danger of 
its being done too often, even though nothing new be said. Shall 
the opponents of truth alone be tireless in putting forth their views ? 
Or is the word of the unsearchable God ever exhausted? In truth, 
we have that word itself as our exemplar in telling over and over 
of the true foundation or chief corner stone of the congregation 
of the Lord. Even St. Augustine did not seem to realise the great 
importance of a right conception of this now famous passage, if we 
may judge by his apparently indifferent "Let the reader choose.*^ 
The fact is, he lived before the bishop of Rome became the head 
of the Western Church, and died while the Bible was still considered 
the supreme arbiter of truth. Not anticipating the subsequent 
abuse of the passage, he was only acknowledging that it pertained 
to each reader to judge for himself. It was after his death that 
Vincent of Lerins wrote his celebrated and generally accepted 
treatise, 2 declaring the holy scriptures the primary authority for 
all alike, and directing his readers, where the Bible is not clear, 
to various kinds of testimony but admitting no testimony in opposi- 
tion to the scriptures. 

2. But however important to all the power of choice, it is also 
important to the individual to choose aright. In the matter now 
before us, in view of the word "rock " in the Bible being invariably 

» Rev. Vernon Stoly, The Catholic Religion, Note, p. 13. 
2 Augustine was born a.d. 354, and died a.d. 430. Vincent 
wrote his treatise in 434. 



320 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



a symbol of God, and never merely of man,* and of the many 
examples thereof, and of the Greek word ekklesia in our passage 
having always meant any gathering together, — that is, an assembly, 
congregation, or meeting of any sort, in a definite place, — and never 
what we now call "the church," whether Jewish or Christian, and 
again, that its reference here is to the great congregation continually 
descending and gathered together in Hades, and to its deliverance 
therefrom by the Son of the living God; who, being the only Source 
of Immortal Life, had come to confer the Gift thereof upon each 
one of that congregation, so that, in consequence of the Gift, the 

1 Is. 51 : 1, 2, may seem to be an exception to this universal state- 
ment. But even if we should admit it to be an apparent exception, 
it would be one that really and effectually proves the rule ; for not 
only would its singularity imply the rule, but on closer examina- 
tion its apparently exceptional character will disappear, and it will 
be found to be a regular example of the rule. The passage reads: 
"Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the 
pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and 
unto Sarah that bare you." Let me add a brief portion of what 
follows: "My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and 
mine arms shall judge the people. . . . Lift up your eyes to 
the heavens and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens 
shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a 
garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but 
my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not 
be abolished. . . . Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall 
return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy 
shall be upon their heads. . . . The captive exile hasteneth 
that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, 
perish in (Hades), nor that his bread (of Life) should fail." These 
and other portions of the context show the passage to tell literally 
of a redemption on earth by the Lord, and also of a spiritual redemp- 
tion by Him for ever; while the rock-like faith of Abraham is 
invoked as a type of the Rock foundation for these promised re- 
demptions. But more: For the scriptures tell us that through 
faith Abraham begat life out of "the deadness of Sarah's womb 
(Rom. 4: 19); and also that through faith he redeemed Isaac from 
Death; thus, intimating a dual victory over Death, or one over 
Hades, and the other over the Grave. And because of this faith and 
its results, the scriptures make Abraham the type of Him who 
through Faith saved the world from also a twofold Death, or one 
of soul and body, obtaining for all men the resurrection of the body 
from the grave, and of the soul from the dead womb of Hades. It 
is to this dual victory that reference is often made, for example, 



Notes 321 



Gates of Hades should not prevail against its members; as is the 
evident idea of the Foundation upon the live rock; in view, I repeat, 
of all this, there would seem to be no reasonable privilege of choice 
between the earlier and the later interpretation of Augustine. For 
not Peter, whose very name symbolised Death, but Christ the Life 
Giver alone was able by His divine power to be the Redeemer from 
Hades, and the Giver of Immortality; and He therefore alone is 
the Rock (Petra) on which the congregation of His redeemed, — "my 
congregation" He calls it, — even the congregation purchased with 
His blood, is built. As for Peter, he was only what Jesus expressly 
called him, by way of contrast to the symbol of Himself, — to wit, 
an ordinary stone (petros) ; this figure, before the resurrection, being 
appropriated in the sacred writings to those under the power of 
Death. By it, accordingly, Jesus represents Peter to be just like 
his fellow men, — in fact, their representative, needing with them to 
be redeemed and made immortal, or to be built upon Him, the 
Rock, safe from the prevailing power of Hades, even upon Him 
who thereafter brought Life and Immortality to light. The word 
petros, which is used in Greek for a stone of moderate size, is there- 
fore never employed of Christ, even when He is said to be the 
chief Corner-Stone ; 1 another word for stone (lithos) being required 
to express the idea. On the other hand, petra is the massive, bed- 
rock of the earth, or the great foundation on which all things on 
the earth, including all life, are upheld; and, as said above, the 
word is never used in the Bible, in a symbolic sense, of other than 
God ; even as to Him only it is appropriate. Keeping then these 

when it is said: "But when this corruptible shall have put on incor- 
ruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up 
in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy 
victory?" (i Cor. 15: 53-55). In a typical sense, therefore, Abra- 
ham is called in the scriptures, as representing Christ, "the heir of 
the world," and " the father of us all " (Rom. 4: 13, 16) ; and in the 
same sense the symbol "rock " is applicable to him, even because it 
is the symbol of Christ. And so, the passage in Isaiah is no excep- 
tion to the statement, that in the Bible the word "rock," when sym- 
bolically used, always has reference to the living, unchangeable 
God. Is. 51 : i, 2, is the only instance where the relation to God is 
not also direct and immediate in its expression. And in this 
instance we look unto Abraham as the type of the Divine Rock 
whence we are hewn, and to "the deadness of Sarah's womb" as 
the type of Hades, the abode of the dead, which is the hole of the 
pit whence we are digged. 

» /. e., of those recovered from Deatli. 



f 
322 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

things in mind, and that the words of Jesus relate to what 
Peter had said to Him, that He was the Christ the Son of 
the living God, those words should be translated in a strictly 
literal manner; on the one hand, so as to be free from the view 
of "the many," which can only be made to appear correct by repre- 
senting Jesus, most irreverently, as at one and the same time calling 
His disciple both a small stone and a great rock; and on the other, 
so as to bring out the obvious contrast between petros and petra 
made by the Divine Speaker in immediate connection. The strictly 
literal rendering, which also is in exact harmony with the divine, 
long-expected and long-foretold mission of the Messiah, the Son 
of the living God, and into which the introduction of Peter as the 
foundation-rock strikes such a discordant note, would be, "Thou* 
art a stone, and 2 upon this Rock I will build my congregation " ; 
to wit, the great gathering of all mankind shortly thereafter to be 
purchased with His Blood, and redeemed by Him out of Hades. 
And so He adds, "and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against 
it." Surely it was of no divine power in St. Peter that St. Paul 
makes mention, when he too tells of our escape from the darkness of 
Hades. For he writes: "Giving thanks unto the Father 
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath 
translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love : in whom we 
have our 3 redemption, the forgiveness of our* sins: who is the 
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. . 
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And 
He is the Head of the body of the (said) congregation : who is the 
beginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in all (things) s he might 
have the pre-eminence." Col. i: 12-15, 17, 18. 

3. The ordinary rendering of Matt. 16 : 18 does not bring out 
the idea thus forcibly expressed in the Greek. That idea is lost in 

» "Thou" is expressed in the Greek, and is emphatic. 

2 The usual sense of course of kai. The Lexicon of L. and S., 
however, besides giving in certain cases such additional meanings 
as hut, and now, etc., says: "III. after words implying sameness 
or likeness, kai must be rendered by as . . .so also after 
words implying comparison. This would require us to translate, 
"Thou art a stone even as upon this Rock," etc.; so bringing 
out the comparison. But still better, "Thou art a stone {i. <?., 
stone-dead), so (or, and now) upon this Rock {i.e., "the Son of the 
living God ") I will build my congregation; and the Gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it"; that is, to keep any one stone-dead. 

3 And 4 Lit. "the"; which the r. v. also renders "our." 

5 Or, "among all." — Note that it is "the congregation of the 
dead " of which the apostle speaks, or not the church of the living. 



Notes 323 



the barren affirmation, "Thou art Peter." The reader would 
naturally ask, What, pray, has the name "Peter" to do with the 
matter?! What, that is to say, indeed, with the proper symbol 
of the Godhead, and with things (the foundation of Life and the 
deliverance from Hades) which require divine power? We perceive 
plainly, however, what is meant, when we put emphasis on the 
"Thou," as the Greek requires, and the sentence is rendered so as to 
show the strong contrast which Jesus was making between petros^ 
an ordinary stone, and petra, the live, bed rock, which is the founda- 
tion that supports all life. As terms, similar in form, but of marked 
contrast in signification, they are evidently put in decided opposition 
to each other. And as they denote, practically the same substance ^ 
and the only difference is in the relative insignificance of the stone, 
and the indispensable importance of the rock, the attention is at 
once called to so great a difference, and to the emphatic character 
of the contrast. Thus are we led on to inquire also into the respect- 
ive symbolic meanings of the two words, and to what is intended by 
their use in contrast. We ask, in fine, if, in saying so significantly 
to Peter, "Thou art a stone/' — a humiliating declaration at once 
calculated to excite attention, particularly right after Peter's 
noble confession, — and then immediately going on in comparison to 
speak of "this Rock," — a word of such lofty symbolical meaning, — 
as the Foundation on which He Himself (so says the passage) was 
to build His congregation, and in all safety from the power of 
Hades, Jesus was not making a corresponding distinction between 
Himself and Peter? For if none was intended, and Peter was not 
only the stone, but also, in spite of unvarying scriptural symbolism 
to the contrary, the rock of the passage, why then, after calling him 
a stone, does Jesus say "this rock"? Would He not have said 
"that rock"? Or "thee as a rock"? But why at all should He be 
assumed to have described one and the same person by two words, 
of such opposite signification, where but one could be appropriate ; 
and have done this, too, in the very same sentence, and in immediate 
connection, as though the one was the synonym of the other? 
Surely, if indeed He were speaking in both clauses of the sentence 
of but one person, Peter, then, of the two symbolic words but one 
could have been consistently employed. He would have said 
either, "Thou art a stone, and upon that stone" etc., or, "Thou 
art a rock, and upon that rock," etc. And if, on the other hand, 
according to a conjecture which has been made, Jesus (not using 
petros) had said, "Thou art Cephas,'' using the language of the coun- 
try, as He in fact is said to have styled Peter on an earlier occasion, 
the same contrast would be there, only not so forcibly expressed 

1 See Acts 4: 12. 



324 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



as by the kindred words petros and petra. In truth, if Cephas had 
been the actual word spoken, it would lend a peculiar emphasis to 
the contrast, as we have it, of petros and petra; for it would at once 
start up the question, why in that event, in the inspired text, petros 
should have been so industriously substituted for the word actually 
spoken? Must we not have concluded, that it was to make the 
contrast the more apparent? So, conjecture what we will in the 
matter, we may not deny that the Divine Wisdom has seen 
fit to give us for our permanent instruction, and also for that of 
His followers who had personal knowledge of the change, the 
contrast of petros and petra; and if in this there has been an industri- 
ous substitution of petros for Cephas, who does not see how the in- 
tention of the Spirit would only be made thereby the more 
pointedly obvious? 

In further confirmation of this intention, the word of inspiration 
has taken care expressly to tell us, that therein Cephas and petros 
have precisely the same signification; and it says this also when 
speaking of the name given to the apostle. For when the latter 
was first brought by his brother to Jesus, and the name was given, 
it was Cephas, and it was expressly translated petros. We read: 
"" When Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: 
thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, petros" — 
i. e., "a stone. " This passage therefore, as well as the one under 
discussion, shows the desire of the Master, whether He used Cephas 
or petros,'^ to call attention, by the name which He gave to Peter, 
to the powerlessness of a man, however prominent He has made 
him, to gain Life for himself; and that eternal Life must be built 
upon an eternal, rock-like Foundation; or one which only God can 
supply. 

4. To use St. Paul's words: "Nevertheless the firm Foundation 
of God standeth." ^ " For other foundation can no man lay than 

» John 1:42. If accordingly there should be imagined at this 
late day a difference of signification between cephas and petros, 
whether as spoken by the country people of Galilee, or by reason of 
derivation, or otherwise, we have, first, scriptural assurance that 
in the scriptures there is no difference. And, secondly, if there had 
been, it would but have lent additional potency to the intention 
of the inspired word in its abolition, and the substitution of petros. 

2 The Greek of Matt. 16 : 18 is what the overruling Providence has 
caused to be brought down to us for our guidance. That Jesus used 
Cephas on that occasion is therefore a mere conjecture in opposition 
to the inspired word as we have it. When He did use Cephas in the 
Greek of St. John, it was interpreted right away, we see, by petros. 

* 2 Tim. 2:19. A word or two of comment. The Work of Christ 



Notes 325 



that which is laid which is Jesus Christ." » And Isaiah says: 
"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with Death, 

gives us a resurrection both of Life and of Judgment. And He de- 
clares this of all in the graves (John 5: 29). But why the unusual 
plural — ' ' graves " ? Why not ' ' of all in the grave ," as is the ordinary 
form of expression? Herein He speaks as do the scriptures, which 
tell us of "the Gates of Death" or "of the Grave" (Job 38: 17. 
Ps.9: 13; 107: 18. Is. 38: 10), and that Death and Hades swallow 
up respectively the body and the soul (i Cor. 15 : 53-55 and chap.), 
and that Death on the pale horse has Hades following with him 
(Rev. 6: 8). Hence Hosea, foretelling of Christ's Work of Deliver- 
ance, wrote, " I will ransom them from the power of Sheol (Hades) ; 
I will redeem them from Death: O Death, I will be thy plagues; 
O Sheol, I will be thy destruction: repentance (change of purpose) 
shall be hid from mine eyes" (13: 14). But in addition to the 
resurrection into Life and Judgment, which our Saviour, when He 
spoke, was then about to effect (John 5: 25), there is a third resur- 
rection, also mentioned by Him, which. He declares, requires the 
faith of man; and too, a perfect faith, having no need of the Judg- 
ment according to deeds. His words are: "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you. He that heareth my words, and believeth in Him that 
sent me, hath eternal Life, and cometh not into Judgment, but hath 
passed out of Death into Life." John 5 : 24. 

Returning now to 2 Tim. 2:19, the error of Hymenaeus and Phil- 
etus condemned by St, Paul in the context consisted in affirming 
this third resurrection to have been already completed, as though 
this also required only the Work of Christ; — a doctrine evidently 
standing in the way of "the work of faith " (2 Th. i : 11 ; i Th. 1:3); 
— that is, of good works by the individual as a necessity (i Tim. 
6: 18, 19); so that, as the apostle said, it overthrew the faith of 
some, thereby tending more and more unto ungodliness (2 Tim. 
2:16). But while condemning the heresy, he would have men never- 
theless gratefully to keep in memory their restoration from Death 
into Life, and to realise also with fear and trembling their resur- 
rection into the Judgment according to deeds. And so, of these 
two resurrections He says: "Nevertheless the firm foundation of 
God standeth, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that 
are His (i. e., those whom He hath purchased for His own from the 
destruction of Death and Hades; which is the resurrection into 
Life) : And (also this seal) , Let every one that nameth the name of 
the Lord (or that is His) depart from iniquity." That in this 
second seal the apostle warns us of the Judgment according to deeds 
he immediately goes on to show; and he further says, that only by 
1 I Cor. 3:11. 



326 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



and with Sheol (Hades) are we at agreement ; when the overflowing 
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have 
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 
therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a 
Foundation a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner (Stone), of 
sure Foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. i Judg- 
ment also will I lay to the line, and Righteousness to the plummet : 
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall 
overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with Death shall be 
disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when 
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden 
down by it. As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for 
morning by moiming shall it pass through, by day and by night: 
and it shall be nought but terror to understand the message. . . . 
Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong: 
for a consummation, and that determined, have I heard from the 
Lord God of hosts, upon the whole earth." 2 In this passage, 
the Foundation of Life is affirmed to be of the Lord's laying, and 
to be a sure deliverance from Death and Hades; and striking 
emphasis is put upon its representation as a Stone; 3 while that of 
man's laying is declared to be a refuge of lies, which can only event- 
uate in destruction. And this is one of several similar passages 
which are applied by our Lord to Himself, and in regard to which 
He announces that He is the chief Comer-Stone which the builders 
refuse.* And after Him Peter's own words to the rulers and elders 
were: "This is the Stone which was set at nought of you the build- 
<ers, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there sal- 
vation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, 

b)ecoming perfect shall we attain unto the final resurrection (see vv. 
20, 21). So far therefore from this being past, it will ever overtake 
sinfulness, notwithstanding the Work of Christ, or a man's imperfect 
repentance and faith, or his baptism, or participation in the Me- 
morial Supper, or any so-called priestly absolution, or aught else. 

1 For the Foundation is laid in Christ ; and what can man's faith 
■do therein ? Why then haste ? Rather, on the one Foundation let 
tis haste to build (2 Pet. 3: 12). Thus only shall we not be con- 
founded — i.e., "put to shame." See Rom. 9 : 33 ; 10 : 11. 2 Pet. 2 : 6. 
(Shows how St. Peter regarded the matter.) 

2 Is. 28: 15-19, 22. The variations from the a. v. are those of 
the r. V. 

3 The Stone in all likelihood symbolizes the human, as the Rock 
'does the divine nature of the Christ. 

4 Matt. 21 : 42-45. Mk. 12:9-12. Luke 20: 15-19. 



Notes 327 



that is given among men, whereby we must be saved." » And yet, 
how many there are, who in effect build upon the name Peter, as 
the veritable foundation of the Church, for their hope of salvation! 
Are then, let us ask ourselves, the words of the apostle to be limited 
to his contemporaries of the Jewish Church? What about those 
who "glory in men," "whether (in) Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas" ? 2 
And here let us note the alarming fact, how passages of scripture, 
which tell of the only Foundation of Life, tell also so often of a 
complete Judgment accompanying that Life. Just as the passage 
of Isaiah tells of a Judgment by line and plummet, or strictly ac- 
cording to deeds; not one therefore deferred at all, but now going 
on; even as should be the character of the Judgment of Him whose 
symbol is the immovable Rock. Do we then realise what these 
prophetic warnings signify to ourselves ? Who would contend that 
in the above passage Isaiah was speaking of Peter as the Foundation 
of precious Stone on which we are to be built, safe from the power 
of Death and Hades? Or that Peter was the Rock of which in 
another passage he says : ' ' And a man shall be as a hiding place 
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as streams of water 
in a dry place, [as the shade of a great Rock in a weary land"? 3 
And who thinks of Peter when he reads: "And the Lord said, 
Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the Rock : 
and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put 
thee in a cleft of the Rock, and will cover thee with my hand until 
I have passed by " ? * And yet, to one who is grounded in the 
teaching that our "Life is hid with Christ in God," s it is no more 
preposterous to make these assumptions, than to assert that in the 
passage in Matthew Peter is the Rock-Foundation on which the 
dead of all ages, and also the living, are to be made secure for ever 
from the power of Hades. 

5. If therefore, in view of the admitted application to Christ in 
all these kindred texts of the terms Foundation, Rock, and Corner- 
stone, it be asked, Why dwell upon such well-known and accepted 
truths? the obvious answer is, first, that we may follow the scrip- 
tural rule of interpretation, and compare scripture with scripture; 
and, next, that we may emphasise the inconsistency, and the danger 
to Christian truth, of interpreting a single passage out of harmony 
with all the others. Moreover, if we recognise so readily that all 
the other texts speak in unison of Christ, can we not discern the 
enslaving hold upon us of a narrow and dangerous ecclesiasticism, 
when, to serve a partisan, selfish or ambitious purpose, it causes us 

1 Acts 4: II, 12. 2 I Cor. 2: 21, 22, and the chap. 

3 Is. 32:2. 4 Ex. 33: 21, 22. 5001.3:3. 



1 

f 

328 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



to twist a single, kindred text into discord with the rest, and in 
place of the all-loving promise of Immortality to the whole human 
race by the Saviour of the world, — of which in its forlorn state 
Peter is made the representative, —to prefer the exclusive exaltation 
of a limited number, and that, upon a mortal foundation, — in short, 
one of Works?! 

Consider, too, how we thus introduce into the divine mission of 
Jesus to save all men, indiscriminately, from Death the rankest 
respect of persons, and make of a stone, — so declared by Jesus 
Himself, — even of that which by nature is dead, and in the Scrip- 
tures is the symbol of Death, our hope of Life; or of immunity 
from Hades and from the stone's inherent condition! Thank God! 
it is not upon a crumbling stone — how can one so believe? — that 
the sinner's future depends. His firm Foundation is, and must be, 
the Living Rock; and in its Cleft he must be hidden, like Moses, 
while that dazzling glory passes by, on which no man can look and 
live. More explicitly, in the presence of the uncompromising 
justice, and the unsullied purity and holiness of the Lord of 
glory the sinner has no place. He may not be face to face with 
Him whose ways are past finding out, nor fathom the deep heavenly 
mysteries of the Gospel of Christ. He can only see with the eye 
of faith the back parts of that glory, or what has been accomplished 
by the supernatural mystery of the divine humanity, and he can 
listen gratefully to the good tidings of the glorious results. "The 
secret things" are not his to discern; — only "those which are re- 
vealed." It is however enough, and of all things satisfactory 
to know, that that which is revealed gives him for the Foundation 
of his Immortal Life the Divine Rock, and not a "stone," the image 
of Death. And it is not merely once, nor twice, that the fundamen- 
tal revelation is given. It is the consistent burden of the word of 
God; and the declaration to Peter is a reiteration thereof, — an 
announcement by "the Christ, the Son of the living God," of 
His mission to recover the world from Death and Hades. And 
He is determined that what He had said shall be made plain. 
For in the same connection, in language divested of parable, 

» Indeed, apart from the work of Peter in recognising the Mes- 
siah, it is upon one work only, and that too, partly, or altogether 
the work of fellow mortals, — to wit, our baptism, — or upon a single 
act of external formality, however dutiful and useful for its own 
purposes the work may be. But if by baptism we have Peter for 
a foundation, and through him are made secure from the prevailing 
power of Hades; thus because of such baptism rising into Life, how is 
it that we were not commanded to be baptised in the name of Peter? 



Notes 329 

we read: "From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples, 
how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of 
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third 
day be raised up." 

6. Many imagine the words of Jesus under discussion to be a 
promise of a special reward to Peter in consequence of his recog- 
nition of the exalted personality of our Lord. But, in addition to 
the many other reasons to the contrary of this, some of which have 
been given, all but one of the twelve were alike following Him 
because of a common belief with Peter; and that one too, perhaps, 
although also from the basest motives. For John the Baptist 
had plainly announced what Peter on this occasion avowed, before 
any one of them had keen called to discipleship. » As the oldest 
member of the little band, the latter merely took upon himself, as 
was his wont, to be their spokesman. But his brother Andrew, 
on bringing him to Jesus, had told him that Jesus was the Christ; 
that is, the Messiah. 2 And Nathaniel had said unto Jesus, " Rabbi, 
Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Irsael."3 And 
these representations of His true character had been made at the 
first, or long before He had given so many wonderful proof-signs 
thereof. As between such earlier acknowledgments and this of 
Peter, who had but recently witnessed a most startling exhibition 
of the divine power in Jesus, which he could not gainsay, his ac- 
knowledgment certainly seems to be the less meritorious, and the 
less deserving of special reward. Under far more trying circum- 
stances, too, a few days before, just after many disciples had deserted 
Jesus, Peter himself — this time avowedly for all the chosen band — 
had comforted the human heart of the God- Man by the words, 
"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal 
Life. And we have believed and are sure that Thou art the 
Holy One of God." * The Forerunner, moreover, had publicly 
designated Jesus as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sin of the world, "s Although this intimation that He was to be 
the true sacrificial Lamb to whom all the temple sacrifices pointed 
was not realised by the disciples in all its suggestive significance, — 
indeed, not until after Peter had made his later avowal of the com- 
mon faith, did he or the others learn that Jesus was to sacrifice 
His life, — yet they all alike looked upon Him as the expected 
Messiah, and the Son of the living God, who could, and would, 

» John 1 : 19-30; 3 : 26-36. Matt. 3 ch. Mk. 1:2-11. Luke 3:15- 
18. 2 John 1 : 40-42. 3johni:49. 

* John 6:68, 69. The reading, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the living God " (a. v.) in this other passage, is of inferior authority, 
but not without support. s John 1:29, 36. 



5 



330 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



preserve them by His mighty power from all enemies. And in their 
eyes He was to become the greatest of the kings on the earth ; 
and in the same earthly sense was to subject the world to His 
sway, and would make of their nation an earthly kingdom of 
heaven that should be over all; while themselves, His chosen twelve, 
were to become His glorious earthly princes. » The furthest 
thought from their minds in respect of Him or them was a life 
of danger, suffering and death. Indeed, Peter's avowal was made 
shortly after the stupendous miracle of feeding the multitude, in 
which feeding they had had every opportunity of scrutiny, and 
were still exulting, as shown by that ready and zealous avowal, in 
such a remarkable exhibition of the supernatural power of their 
Divine Master. Under all the circumstances, the avowal had no 
special merit, and, on this particular occasion at least, would seem 
to have called for no special reward. The special merit was rather 
that of those who had preceded Peter in making similar avowals; 
and Peter himself was far more deserving, when, after the many 
had abandoned Jesus, he had in like manner spoken out without 
hesitation for the twelve. And because also he was speaking for 
the twelve in our present passage it would show that if any re- 
ward of becoming a foundation of the church had been really 
promised to him, it would have been intended for them all. In 
this case, therefore, the words of St. Paul, though referring in fact 
to the primary labours of the first preachers of the gospel, would 
have had additional significance, seeing that, from this point of 
view likewise, the early converts would have been made, pursuant 
to the alleged promise, "of the household of God, being built upon 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being its 
chief Corner Stone." (Eph. 2: 19, 20.) Under any interpretation 
it is well to take note, that these words put both apostles and 
prophets or teachers, all of them alike, on the same plane as founda- 
tions of the household of God. And so of the apostles, when it is 
said by St. John, "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, 
and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." 
(Rev, 21: 14.) 

7. But in respect of the avowal of Peter, Jesus on the present 
occasion designedly brought out the avowal afresh ; Himself intro- 
ducing the subject of the miracle, and calling special attention to 
its more conspicuous details, and shortly after following it up with 
direct questions as to His own personality; first asking whom men 
thought Him to be; and next, putting the question that led straight 
to His purpose, — "But who say ye that I am?" And the answer 
of Peter, evidently made for all so addresesd, was just what He 

» Just as afterward the bishop of Rome set himself up to be. 



Notes 331 



wished and had expected; and it opened the way to a safer dis- 
closure in plain words of that which all along He had been inti- 
mating in parables, and now at last, before His career upon earth 
was closed, would have at all hazards His twelve immediate 
disciples clearly know; — namely, that He, the Lamb of God, 
was then on His final journey to Jerusalem, there to be offered up 
for the sins of the world. His time was now close at hand, only 
a few days remaining before His crucifixion. It was all-important 
therefore for the twelve to be disabused at last of their earthly 
notions, and to learn instead the spiritual nature of His divine 
mission; and that to give Life to the world, which was the great 
purpose of that mission, required Him to be killed on the cross of 
malefactors as the Substitute for all evil-doers. Divining, as He 
did of course, the terrible revulsion of feeling that would ensue in the 
breasts of the twelve, by reason of their learning what a gloomy 
future was immediately threatening them, and because of the 
abrupt change of their thoughts from earthly to heavenly things. 
He sought, if possible, to strengthen them to receive His unexpected 
disclosure, and to preserve their allegiance in the face thereof. As 
became a faithful Shepherd, He was caring for His flock. In the 
first place, as mentioned. He had made them personal witnesses of 
His stupendous miracle shortly before, and thereby manifested 
His unquestionable possession of divine power; — a miracle so 
astounding, that He had had to escape from the multitude whom 
He had fed, who would have risen up with full confidence of success 
to make Him their earthly Messianic King. It was no wonder, in 
view of the effect of the miracle upon the people at large, that 
His immediate followers, who had witnessed His many other 
miracles, and long before had expressed their faith in His Messiah- 
ship and Divine Nature, when shortly thereafter asked by Himself 
whom they considered Him to be, should again, through their 
usual spokesman, have acknowledged their faith. It was no new 
revelation to them, as we have seen. It had been revealed to 
them by the Father from heaven at the baptism of Jesus, when 
there came the voice, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased."* It was simply a timely confession of the 
common faith brought out anew by the Master for his own definite 
purpose. He emphasises however its expression by Peter on the 
present occasion, calling attention thereto in connection with the line 
of thought which He was pursuing, and the terrible disclosure of His 
approaching death which He was about to make. As Peter was 
the spokesman, He addresses him personally, but through him us 
all; for so the announcement of the common Rock-Foundation of 

iMatt. 3: 17. 



I 

332 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Immortality for His congregation, and also of a judgment upon 
every man according to his deeds, or without respect of persons, 
of which judgment He likewise takes care to give warning, de- 
manded. Inasmuch as those present had the same belief with 
Peter, and it required but one to give it expression, and no one of 
them dissented, it follows that what was said was intended for 
them also, and for all of like faith. In truth, every one of the great 
congregation who was to be brought from under the prevailing 
power of Hades may consider himself addressed when we read, 
"And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou Simon, 
Bar-Jonah :i for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
but my Father who is in Heaven. And I say also unto thee, that 
thou art a stone; so 2 upon this Rock will I build my congregation; 
and the Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And (besides 
this Gift of Immortality) I will give unto thee (thee representing 
all) the keys of the kingdom of heaven; (that is, I promise thee 
entrance therein ; but it is when free from the bondage of sinfulness ; 
for He continues) and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall 
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven." ^ 

8. As said above, in styling Peter a stone. He intimates that 
Peter, and of course we, whose mortal condition Peter represents, 
are in the jaws of Death. Indeed, the universal application of the 
address is here made obvious; for it is not Peter alone, but all the 
congregation purchased by the Redeemer of mankind, who are 
promised immunity from the prevailing power of the Gates of 

i In modern parlance "Simon, son of Jonah," would be "Simon 
Johnson." In the next verse the name is implied, thus: "And I 
say also unto thee, (Simon Bar- Jonah), That thou art a stone; 
so upon this Rock " etc. It is natural to say allegorically, " Simon, 
thou art a stone"; but not to say, "Simon, thou art Peter." To 
address one in that way seems meaningless and undignified. The 
thought at once arises, " Well, suppose he is Peter, what has that to 
do with the matter?" Just think for a moment of our Divine 
Master saying: " Simon Johnson, thou art Peter; and upon this rock 
— i.e., that thou art Peter — I will build my church; and the Gates 
of Hades shall not prevail against it. " Oh, the horror of it! 

2 See ^ 2, footnote. 

3 That is to say, whatever a man does, so is his judgment; — i. e., 
according to the deed, and without respect of persons, and both as to 
him who binds or looses and him who is bound or loosed. See 
Matt. 18: 18, said directly to us all; as this passage is indirectly 
said to us all through Peter; and John 20: 23, through all the 
apostles. 



i 

Notes 333 



/ 



Hades. So again, when presently afterwards "He charged His 
disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ," 
He plainly recognised that Peter's profession had been made in 
behalf of them all, and that His answer to him was also to them. 
But the universal application of His words, along with this primary 
application of them to the twelve, is further shown, when He takes 
care to couple with the irrespective Gift of Immortality to all 
His congregation redeemed out of Hades the Promise of the Keys 
to heaven, and the strict, irrespective, immediate Judgment upon 
every member thereof according as he binds or looses, — that is, 
according to his deeds. In His address to Peter, in order to prepare 
the way for the disclosure of His own coming death, and the irre- 
vocable judgment upon them that was to accompany the Gift 
of Immortality, in place of their proud earthly hopes, of necessity 
He used the language of parable. If the minds of men at this late 
day were not confounded by traditionary lore, they would readily 
discern that the promise of the keys of the kingdom of heaven had 
for its object no special reward, which was to be bestowed upon 
Peter only, or upon the twelve, but was a promise which from the 
beginning had been given to all men^ and was called forth specially 
on the occasion now under consideration, to draw off the attention 
of all the twelve, who at this critical juncture were listening 
intently to His words, from the hope of an earthly kingdom to a 
better hope ; one which they could rely upon as sure when promised 
by Him; the hope, namely, of the kingdom of heaven. But that 
the promise had also all men in view is evidenced not only by the 
representative character of Peter throughout the address, but 
by the fact that Peter had just been made the recipient of the 
promise of Immortality to all the congregation of the redeemed. 
That is to say, the two promises are in immediate connection; 
Jesus first telling Peter that His congregation should be built upon 
the Rock of His Divinity, and that over it the Gates of Hades 
should not prevail; and thereupon immediately adding to this 
promise of eternal Life the additional promise of the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven. The universality of both promises, thus in 
due order connected, is still further evidenced by the number of 
times and the variety of ways that they occur elsewhere in the 
scriptures, where the application of them is to all mankind. At the 
close of the inspired book, in the place of the promise of the keys 
the climax seems to be reached in the assurance, that, save to those 
who are still tainted by sinfulness, the Gates of heaven are wide 
open toward the four quarters of the earth, and are no more to be 



» Tit. i: 2. 



334 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



shut. » If we would couple this joyful assurance with the declaration 
of Jesus, that to Him, or not to Peter, belong the keys of Hades 
and of Death, and also the key of David, which is to say, of the 
Christ; and that what He openeth no man, Peter nor any other, 

iRev. 21 : 25-27. Augustine says: "For no one man, but the 
oneness of the Church has received the keys. From this therefore 
the excellence of Peter is proclaimed; forasmuch as he was made a 
figure of the entirety and oneness of the Church itself, when it was 
said to him, ' I give to thee,' what was given to all. For that ye may 
know that the Church has received the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, hear ye in another place what the Lord says to all His 
apostles " — quoting John 20:23, where the power to bind and loose, 
here given to Peter in figure, is also given to all the disciples. 
And note, the word used is not apostles, but disciples. Whether 
others besides apostles were present, we are not told. At all events, 
the formal gift was to only ten of the apostles, Thomas not being 
present. This fact shows again that it was a figure; and Matt. 18:6- 
35 makes the application to all men to be conclusive. — In the above 
extract Augustine uses the same word in Latin for "church," 
that our Lord uses in the Greek for the "congregation" to be re- 
deemed from Hades: but from frequent misapplication the word 
had acquired an ecclesiastical sense altogether different from 
what it had had in our Lord's time. (I speak only of the Greek; 
for nobody knows what was in the lost Aramaic text.) Although 
Augustine admits the representative character, he fails to realise 
how natural is the language to the representative one who alone 
had been the speaker; who, having been told that he was a dead 
stone, forthwith receives the promise of restoration to Life and 
of the keys whereby he was to gain heaven itself. The same "fig- 
ure," which makes him represent the death of all, is thus preserved 
in making him represent the Life and final blessedness of all. 
But in this what becomes of the implication of excellence in Peter? 
His actual condition, he is told, is that of Death; and what follows 
is of something promised; and both in the actual condition and 
in the promises he is put as the figure of us all, and in equal degree. 
In another place Augustine imagines, contrary to what he concludes, 
that Peter because of the primacy of his apostleship carried in 
figure, in general, the personality of the Church, and even makes 
the gift of the keys to be that of the whole Church. And yet with 
no logical sequence, but with truth intermixed, he afterwards con- 
tinues: "Peter had said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God.' Therefore, said He. 'Upon this Rock, which thou hast 
confessed, I will build my church.' For the Rock was Christ, upon 



^ Notes 335 



shutteth, » whether it be the Gates of heaven or hell; we should 
recognise more clearly the all-comprehending significance of the 
promises addressed to Peter. 

9. And here it may be as well to note, that it is not the keys 
themselves which are given in the address. In the logical order 
of things they are only promised ; and the promise is made to assure 
all men, but at that time the twelve disciples especially, unto v/hom 
He was on the point of disclosing that He was to suffer and die, 
that, as St. Peter himself tells us, we should be "begotten again unto 
a living hope (or a hope that knows no death), through the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, 
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, kept in heaven for you 
(the strangers to whom the apostle was writing) that are preserved 
by the power of God through Faith ii. e., of Christ) for salvation 
ready to be revealed in latest time: wherein," St. Peter goes on to 
say, "ye greatly rejoice," adding, with what would seem to be a 
recollection of Jesus' disclosure, * ' though now for a brief season, 
if need be, grieved by manifold temptations." 2 And yet, although 
in the logical order the keys are only promised, because the actual 
gift of them properly followed the crucifixion, still, in anticipation 
of that great event, and because the Lamb (it may be also by 
anticipation) is represented as slain from the foundation of the 
world, 3 therefore, from the very first the keys would seem to have 
been put in the possession of men; and most consistently, seeing that 
they were created in the likeness of God. Accordingly, in the 
varied allegories and declarations of the Bible it is ever the good 
deeds, whether active or passive, of the man himself, which pro- 
mote his progress heavenward; and it is in these that he verily 
wields the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And so it is, when at 
length he attains perfection, that he finds the gates of the kingdom 

which Foundation Peter himself also was built. The Church there- 
fore which is founded upon Christ has received from Him the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, — in Peter, i. e., the power of binding and 
loosing sins." The latter ambiguous clause is added in an effort to 
make his logic good. In Evang. Joannis tract. 124, § 5. Compare 
his "For no one man, but the oneness of the Church has received 
the keys." Hence we should construe the old writer consistently 
to say: The gift was to Peter in figure, but to the Church in fact. 
And this he does in effect say in his first clause just above. I was 
not cognizant of these excerpts when I wrote the text, but was 
pleased to be confirmed in part by so great a theologian, and so 
early a writer. See the original Latin in Gieseler, L § 94, where I 
chanced upon the excerpts. 
»Rev. 1:18; 3:7. 2i Pet. 1:3-5. 3Rev. 13:8. 



336 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



wide open for his reception, come from what quarter he may; 
even as they had been thus open, waiting for him, during all the 
aeons of his imperfect condition. So again, of course, it is the 
evil deeds of a man which delay his passage through the open gates 
of Hades; thus preventing him from more speedily reaching the 
open gates of Heaven. » For, from the beginning, in anticipation 
of the triumphant mission of the GoD-Man, the gates of the 
two places have been open to men, with supreme reliance upon the 
unchangeable plan to save them all; even as was required by that 
Mercy which endureth for ever. Of this anticipated opening the 
instances of Enoch and Elijah are instructive illustrations. Indeed, 
Jesus Himself plainly shows both His promise and gift of the keys, 
as well as His promise and gift of eternal Life to all His redeemed 
congregation, to have been made to us all from the beginning; and 
the use of the keys and the consequences to be the same with the 
binding and loosing of our passage; and therefore to bring down 
upon the individual a strict proportionate judgment. And He 
gives a plain example; charging the scribes and Pharisees with 
shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men, and with making 
them to be children of the purgatorial fires of Gehenna twofold 
more than themselves. To give the passage at some length: 
"One is your Leader (or Guide), and all ye are brethren. And 
call no man your father (no man your papa, pope, or other sub- 
jecting 2 authority, i. e., in spiritual things) upon the earth: for One 
is your Father who is in Heaven. Neither be ye called leaders ^ : 

» 2 Pet. 3:11, 12. 

2 While, however, no one by claim of authority may bind or loose, 
yet whoever causes a sinner voluntarily to turn from error thereby 
saves a soul from the death of sinfulness, with its judgment, and so 
begets in him new life, and in that way becomes his spiritual 
father; but only in this secondary sense. He uses his power to 
"loose." See Jas. 5:19, 20. i Cor. 4:14, 15. There would be 
greater agreement among Christians, if we should distinguish more 
carefully. 

3 The same Greek word, above uniformly translated "leader" 
or "leaders," occurs in the above extract three times. At the 
beginning it is contrasted with " Rabbi," and therefore has reference 
to a spiritual guide, instructor, and interpreter of truth, and shows 
that no one but Christ has dictatorial authority as such; all others 
being on a common level as brethren. The passage next guards 
us against the subtle self-deception of calling some specially revered 
ones spiritual fathers entitled to dictate to us what is truth. Then 
it again declares Christ to be our only Leader; and, that we may 
not servilely prove false to our independent judgment, even in 



Notes 337 



for One is your Leader, (even) the Christ. But the greater of you 
shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall 
be humbled: and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. 
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut 
up (lit. key up) the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye go not 
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour 
widows' houses, even for a pretext making long prayers : therefore 
shall ye receive greater judgment. Woe unto you, scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass the sea and the land to make 
one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more 
a son of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides," 
etc. In like manner, we have the declaration of our Lord again, 
that to bind and to loose is a common responsibility, only two 
chapters after that containing the similar declaration to Peter, or in 
Matt. 1 8 : i8. There, after directing an individual, whoever he may 
be, by all practical means to save a trespassing brother, in earnest 
words He proclaims to us all: "Verily I say unto you, What things 
soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what 
things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
lo. How inconsistent indeed with the irrevocable gift of free- 
will, and with other scriptures, would be the interpretation of a 
single passage which should confine the keys of heaven to Peter 
only, or to the twelve disciples, and of all things to certain successors 
or representatives of Peter, not one of whom is so much as mentioned 
or even im.plied in the passage. On the contrary, to no one is it 
given in the inspired word to become a barrier between God and 
the individual soul of another. Certainly St. Peter never claimed 
for himself any special prerogative in the use of the keys; although, 
as continually happens among a number of persons nowadays, and 
as he had been accustomed to do before the keys were promised, 
he often became the spokesman for the others. But the opening 
to mankind both of the prison of the dead and of the heaven above, 
of which alone at this important crisis Jesus was speaking, i was 

respect of the highest among men, it declares that the greater 
among them shall be their servant. It follows, that among Chris- 
tians there is no spiritual leader whom we must implicitly follow; 
and, that we become great in proportion as we appeal to the inde- 
pendent judgment of our fellows, and seek to be their servants, and 
not their masters. We must persuade free-will beings — not compel 
them. The versions accordingly have ' ' masters " in all three places, 
except that the r. v. in the first has "teacher." 

» For the great object of Jesus was to call off the hopes of His 
disciples from an earthly to the heavenly kingdom above. 



33^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the great and exclusive work "of God our Saviour, who willeth 
all men to be saved, and to come unto a knowledge of truth. For 
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a 
man, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, the proof 
(to be) in its own times. "i In this affirmation that Christ Jesus 
is the only Mediator between God and man, and in the decided 
universality of the context, putting all upon a common level, and 
particularly in the gaining a knowledge of truth, we have another 
of the many passages which manifest the supernatural consistency 
of the inspired word, and which throw a strong light upon the 
proper interpretation of the promise of the keys. The passage 
forcibly recalls to our attention how the writer of the passage on 
another occasion withstood Peter to the face for his fallibility in 
compromising the truth of the gospel. 2 And how, immediately 
before this rebuke of Peter was mentioned, we find written in the 
same epistle: "But from those reputed to be somewhat, whatsoever 
they were maketh no matter to me, — God accepteth no man's 
person, — to me, verily, these that were of repute imparted nothing: 
but contrariwise, when they saw that I had been intrusted with the 
gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter was of the circumcision 
(for he that wrought in Peter for the apostleship of the circum- 
cision wrought also in me for the Gentiles); and when they per- 
ceived the grace that was given unto me, they, James, Cephas 
(i. e., Peter), and John, that were reputed to be pillars, gave to me 
and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we (should be) 
for the Gentiles, and they for the circumcision." ^ 

II. St. Peter's representative character in receiving the promise 
of the keys and the declaration of the power of binding and loosing, 
— ^both adjuncts of the gift of free-will, — is, however, hardly called 
in question by theologians. Their contention is as to the extent 
of the representation. Long ago St. Ambrose wrote: "All we 
bishops have in St. Peter received the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven." Herein the old bishop of Milan evidently claimed for 
himself and his fellow bishops to have been officially addressed 
through St. Peter, and to have received in consequence equal 
p6wers with the twelve, because of their episcopal office; or not 
merely as redeemed human beings, or as disciples, but as apostles; 
which latter even the twelve at that time were not, and which the 
bishops of later ages, and in general those of the apostolic age, 
never were.* But in making this claim the old bishop at all events 

i I Tim. 2:3-6. 2 Gal. 2:11-14. » Gal. 2:6-9. 

*For, we should remember, although the episcopal office was 
created by the apostles and is held in regular succession from apos- 
tolic hands, still, it is not the apostolic office which was received 



Notes 339 



admitted St. Peter's representative character in the address to 
have extended both to the twelve disciples, and also through them 
to all bishops and their successors to the end of the world. And 
in this claim ecclesiasticism is necessitated to join, and to make it 
include all presbyters or priests, and their successors, in order to 
have a basis for its own exclusiveness and wondrous pretensions. » 
And yet, nowhere in the address, or elsewhere in the scriptures, are 
bishops, or presbyters, or the successors of any clerical office, either 
mentioned or implied as possessing exclusive functions in connection 
with the keys or with binding and loosing. 2 On the other hand, 
as we have seen, the address contains an explicit promise of eternal 

and transmitted, that having been held only by those who had 
learned the gospel directly from the Lord Himself and had seen 
Him after His resurrection, and were able to bear witness thereto, 
or to His having burst the gates of Death and Hades (Acts 1:21,22. 

1 Cor. 9:1. John 15:27. Acts 2 124, 32; 4: 2, 33; 17 : 18, 31, 32; 
26:22,23. Rom. 1 : 4, etc., etc). Accordingly, with usual consistency, 
in the inspired word those who held the episcopal office, such as 
Timothy, Titus, and the seven angels (i. ^., messengers) are never 
styled "apostles." Nor in early times, after what is admitted to 
have been the apostolic age, was any bishop so styled. His was a 
local office; while the apostolic mission was to all the world; and 
itjpertainedto that mission, (what cannot be said of course of bishops,) 
to be witnesses even to death of having seen the Lord after His 
resurrection. The notion that the title ' ' apostle " was dropped by 
the bishops in honour of those of the Lord's appointment, and 
that the office was continued in the bishops, is therefore an invention 
of a later age. Where, forsooth, is the record of a fact so important ? 
But if bishops never were apostles, the claim for them of what was 
said to St. Peter is an admission at all events of his representative 
character in respect of those not present at the address, and in a 
wider sense than is commonly affirmed; or that it extended to all 
men irrespectively. As for priests, they are not even claimed to 
have been present ; thus adding to the force of the admission. See 

2 Cor. 8:23, where Titus is distinguished, apparently, from the 
brethren of St. Paul called apostles. See also Rom. 16:7, 21. 
Phil. 2:25. 

» The wider claim in this of the bishops and priests in all con- 
sistency negatives the exclusive claim of the pope. Both claims 
cannot stand together. If St. Peter represented all bishops, he did 
not solely represent the pope. And so, a fortiori, in respect of the 
priests. 

2 For in John 20:21-23 the apostles are also representative. 



( 

340 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Life to all the redeemed; and seeing that an eternity of life in 
sin and misery would be the very reverse of encouragement, there 
immediately follows to the admittedly representative Peter the 
glorious promise of the keys to heaven, coupled with the appropriate 
warning to us all of our power to bind and loose, and of its ratifi- 
cation in heaven; thereby intimating the respective judgment upon 
each individual according to his deeds. And we have seen, that 
elsewhere in the scriptures, in respect of every individual matter 
spoken of in the address, there is a distinct application thereof to 
the members of the Divine Speaker's congregation, — that is to 
say, to all mankind; the sacrifice of the earthly for the heavenly 
on the part of each man, and his judgment before death, being soon 
after dwelt upon at greater length, and apparently in the address 
itself, or at all events in continuation thereof; and his power to bind 
or loose only two chapters thereafter; and again, in a later chapter, 
the improper use of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, even by the 
scribes and Pharisees, being stated and expressly condemned; and 
because of their proper use in the ages agone, Enoch and Elijah 
being narrated in the Old Testament to have passed through the 
open gates of the kingdom. 

12. From what appears then in the address of Jesus, and from 
its conceded application to others than those present, the con- 
clusion drawn above is, that the promises, declarations and warnings 
in the address are made ultimately to all mankind; although also 
intended to strengthen the twelve disciples to whom He was 
about to make known the emptiness of their earthly expectations. 
But apart from this immediate object, how fitting it was that the 
iundamental things of the gospel should be announced to men, 
when He was about to tell plainly, or no longer in parable, that 
He was on the point of finishing in success His mission to save 
the world. And how utterly insignificant in comparison, and 
unsuited to the exaltation of the occasion, especially when He was 
striving to alienate the minds of His disciples from earthly things 
altogether, to be Himself discussing and putting into their hearts 
things which pertain to this world, and to their personal dignity 
therein! — in other words, to ignore His own great mission, and the 
incomparable benefits which it was to confer upon all men, and to 
come down to an irrelevant talk about what should be done by 
successive priests, and bishops, and popes! Surely, in an address at 
such a time, the things about which He would naturally talk, 
yea, and about which He did talk, were the fundamental things which 
He Himself was to bring to pass through His speedily coming death 
and resurrection; such as the acquisition of Life and Immortality 
for all men, by His passage through the gates of Hades, the opening 
to all of the gates of heaven, the delay of sinful men in reaching them. 



Notes 341 



even of Peter himself and his fellow disciples, as shown in the 
promise only to all, made personally to him and them, (instead of 
the actual gift,) of the keys thereto, and the ever present judgment 
meanwhile upon each one, until he shall be worthy to enter therein. 
13. In view of the history of the world under all religions, the 
efforts of the wise Master were ever directed to discourage, not to 
encourage, worldly aspirations in His ministers. And yet, how 
have they striven after rank and power; and most of all the bishop 
of Rome! To this day his cry continues for a kingdom on earth; 
in this, if in nothing else, making himself a successor of Peter; 
even in that which brought down upon Peter the appellation of 
"Satan" ! For, swayed by this ambition, which was also that of 
the disciple of whom he claims to be the successor, the bishop fails 
to see that Jesus in the several promises of His address was not 
giving to Peter any special prerogatives, nor to any unnamed 
successors of Peter, 1 but, instead, was animating His disciples at 
a great crisis, and through them us all, with the certain hope of the 
kingdom of heaven above, — not putting before them a novel king- 
dom of the earth ; for that was the very thing from which He was 
seeking to dissuade them. In truth, in the promise of the keys. He 
was opposing to the utmost, instead of inflaming, the selfish ambi- 
tion which possessed all the disciples alike. And the narrative 
tells us how Peter received the unwelcome tidings of the failure of 
all his worldly plans and hopes. On the spur of the moment, he 
sought to restrain his Master from devoting Himself to death. In 
a dazed manner, apparently, he seemed to disregard the promised 
opening of heaven to men, and persistently clung to the wish of his 
ambitious heart. A Jewish, Messianic kingdom over all upon earth 
was also the current notion of the time among the Jews ; and Peter 
had hoped to become its chief prince. And the same hope has 
ever actuated the papacy throughout its history; save that the 
pope for "Jewish" substitutes "Italian," and dispenses with 

1 The apostolate was not a local office, and in St. Peter's case he 
was especially declared to be sent to the Jews, just as St. Paul's 
mission was to the Gentiles (Gal. 2 : 7, 8 quoted in ^ 10). A visita- 
tion to Rome therefore of either apostle would have been only 
incidental, as a part of the larger mission of his apostolic office 
(Rom. 1 : 5-7, 13-15). Neither apostle had a local see; and no bishop 
of a local see can claim to be the special successor of either. In 
point of fact, St. Peter specially addresses his first epistle to Chris- 
tians in parts of Asia Minor; and his second to Christians generally. 
See also, the addresses, in general, to divers churches of St. Paul's 
epistles. St. James writes to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. 
See also the epistles of S.S. John and Jude. 



342 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the visible presence of the Messiah, making himself the visible, 
earthly king. 

14. But Peter in this was tempting Jesus with the identical 
temptation which the devil had previously offered on the mount. 
On that occasion, to the holy Jesus the promise of the kingdom of 
the world, and the glory thereof, we may well believe, was made 
by the wily tempter in no gross form; but one which he thought most 
likely to appeal to a divinely constituted nature, and to com- 
port with the mercy and goodness of God. The suggestion may 
have been, to spare men from having to undergo the aeons of 
suffering which in general would be necessary to bring them volun- 
tarily into a perfect condition. This would seem to have been the 
gist of the wily inducement offered to the Messiah to abandon 
His life-sacrificing mission for the kingdom of the world. In 
this wise the devil may have hoped to bring the Messiah Himself 
tinder his sway, and to prevent the salvation of men. But in 
whatever form the temptation was presented, this was its unholy 
purpose. It was a desperate effort both to commit Jesus to an 
act of treachery and disobedience to God, and to deprive men of 
their GoD-given freedom; although that freedom had been an 
irrevocable gift! It would have reduced men to hopeless slavery, 
and destroyed for ever their exalted rank as gods, and their future 
reign as kings and priests in the kingdom of heaven. The at- 
tempt, of course, was foolish in the extreme; nay, it was the cul- 
mination of diabolical folly. Indeed, in a spiritual sense, if the 
devil were not a fool, he would not be a devil; and if he were not 
the chief of fools, he would not be the chief of devils. Still, although 
his temptation was repulsive to the holy nature of Jesus, and its 
rebellious character could not be disguised from Him,» it found 
afterwards easy access into the hearts of His disciples; for, in their 
lower natures, they, like other men, were also children of the devil; 
and the kingdom of the world was just what they all desired. 
When Peter therefore would have induced his Divine Master to 
forego the great sacrifice which was to bring us salvation for ever 
from Hades and, in addition, the keys to heaven, — albeit with tem- 
poral judgment, — and was preferring instead his own ambitious 

1 In spite of his folly, the devil seems to have been aware of this, 
and with brazen assurance expressly stipulated that Jesus should 
become his humble subject. He may have imagined that one so 
willing to sacrifice Himself for men would not hesitate at the 
dastardly sacrifice which he proposed. At any rate, he was aware 
that Jesus would perceive the wickedness of his offer, and that 
any kingdom of his giving would be tainted with evil. What he 
could not hide he therefore avowed. 



Notes 343 



project,! he was literally following in the footsteps of the arch- 
tempter, and of course, incurred from the God of equal, irrespective 
justice a similar comdemnation. Said our Lord: "Get thee 

1 It is in finite ideas of the Infinite God that men are wont to 
seek a basis for their wild assumptions; and thereby with the best 
the devil often gains his opportunity. How easy it was for Peter, 
with ambition blinding him, to say to himself, May not the Omnipo- 
tent create a kingdom on earth subservient to the kingdom of 
heaven? Nay, has not the Son of God often spoken of just such 
a kingdom? And what better earthly kingdom could there be 
than one which has Himself for its visible King, with great princes 
and nobles of His own appointment ? How much better this, than 
for Him to die and ascend to heaven, to come again to judge 
miserable, sinful men through aeons of suffering ? Surely a kingdom 
of His own creation could be made at once perfect, and its subjects 
incapable of backsliding. Why should evil exist at all? Or if a 
product only of the imagination, why should not the imagination 
itself be purged ? With an illusive idea of the Infinite as our premise 
how easy it is to forget the self-evident truth that it is only possible 
for the natural to know the super-natnral as it is revealed. For 
example, from the unchangeableness of God how easy it is to 
draw the conclusion, that in every particular, however minute, 
He must ever be doing the very same thing; or, per contra, since 
to begin to do would be to change, that He has not done, and cannot 
do, anything whatever; or that He cannot have the consciousness of 
two successive states of being; in all which things we would be 
His superiors! Or again, that all men and things must have existed 
always, and without a particle of change! In like reasoning, 
drawn from finite conceptions of God, — that is, because He is 
unchangeable, omnipotent, everywhere, a Spirit, all-merciful, 
etc., — in our day, as formerly, the existence, and of course the 
potentiality, of matter have been denied, and pantheism enthroned; 
for, so long as the lower nature of man continues to exist, the folly 
inherited from the father of that nature will be abundantly mani- 
fested. In the case of him who takes the bit in his mouth with 
vain, unrevealed, philosophical conceits about the Infinite God, 
and has the love of the earthly tugging at his heart, what theories 
and systems may he not invent? And the loftier he is in intellect, 
the more seductive does he become. And yet, he is under like 
limitations with his inferiors; and no more than they can conceive 
the infinite. The drift of Peter's thoughts, which, in common 
with his fellow disciples, led him to prefer the glory of a kingdom 
on earth, we do not know. But we do know that such was their 
preference and expectation, and how they all had striven to be 



344 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



behind me, Satan: thou art my snare :i for thou mindest not the 
things of God, but those of men." And knowing that the disciples 
all shared in Peter's ambition, and because throughout His words 
were for all alike, "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man 
would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, 
and follow me. For whosoever would save his life (as Peter wished 
Him to do) shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my 
sake shall find it. For what should a man be profited, if he should 
gain the whole world (as the disciples were wishing), and forfeit 
his Life (and in this case, that eternal Life which at His death He 
was to gain for all) ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
Life ? For the Son of man is about 2 to come (the coming in logical 
sequence following immediately the gaining of the Life, although 
by anticipation taking place already) in the glory of His Father with 
His angels : and then shall He render to each man according to his 
doing. Verily I say unto you, There are some of them that stand 
here, who shall in nowise taste of death, till they see the Son of 
man coming in His kingdom." That is to say, in order to destroy 
the hankering of the disciples after a miserable kingdom on earth, 
with its paltry temporal glory, He would give some of them a 
vision of that higher kingdom of which He had promised them the 
keys, and of its surpassing glory, and at the same time of the strict 
judgment upon men administered by Him from the higher kingdom 
according as each man binds or looses, of which judgment He had 
spoken in connection with the promise of the keys. And inasmuch 

the greatest in that kingdom, and that the ambition had been long 
cherished. In addition, he was naturally excited by his great love 
and solicitude for Jesus. And withal, the temptation, increased 
as it was by bitter disappointment, was so very sudden. But if 
temptation could thus overcome even Peter, how forcible is the 
warning to us; given as we are to mislead ourselves, and to be 
misled by others, into specious notions. And what if the tempta- 
tion should come from the wisest and best? In truth we need to 
be on our guard against even a Peter, as well as against the rest 
of men: for so was our great Exemplar; and so also was St. Paul. 
And in this respect Peter has indeed successors. See John 11:7, 
8,12. Ex. 33:18-23. Deut. 29:29. Ps. 18: II, 24-28; 97:2; 131 : 1. 
John 1:18; 3:31. I Tim. 6:16, etc. I have treated the folly of 
reasoning from our ideas of infinity more at length in The Purpose 
of the Mons, as yet unpublished. 

» The normal meaning, and forcibly applied to Peter; his love and 
genuine solicitude for Jesus, as well as of Jesus for him, making him 
the more entangling snare. 

2 Again the lit. rendering. See r. v. , margin. 



Notes 345 



as the disciples James and John had been conspicuously eager 
in seeking for themselves the most prominent positions in the 
looked-for kingdom on earth, the one to be on the right, and the 
other on the left hand of Jesus, they were the ones selected by 
Him, with the ambitious Peter, who had been His tempter, to 
behold the promised vision. Thus the most disappointed of the 
disciples, and yet, it would seem the most spiritually advanced, 
were made the fitting eyewitnesses to men of the King of kings 
in His kingdom of glory, and of His constant coming in judgment, 
as well before death as after, upon each man according to his doing; 
or, not, as they were desiring, in a spirit of favouritism in respect 
of themselves; but those most honoured being the meekest and 
most self-sacrificing of men, and the places therefore at either 
hand of Jesus, so proudly coveted by the apostles, in their wished- 
for kingdom of the world, being occupied in the kingdom of heaven 
by Moses and Elijah, the worthy exemplars of the Law and the 
Prophets, or of the word of God by which men are judged, i 

15. In the above narrative we find from beginning to end nothing 
expressed or implied to indicate that the apostles, including Peter, 
were addressed officially, or otherwise than as individuals. But 
even if the address had been to them as apostles, or to Peter alone, 
then, by the address itself, so limited, the claims of other officials in 
regard thereto would be silenced. And so, if the address had been 
in express terms, not only to those present, but to all who were 
apostles, and to their successors; because the very naming of one 
class would be the exclusion of every other, according to a well- 
known and universally accepted axiom. For what is said to 
another is not said to me ; and what is given or promised to another 
is not given or promised to me. And no more does the hypothesis 
that gifts or promises were made to a certain class of officials, 
namely, to apostles, justify a claim to the gifts or promises by any 
other class of officials, to wit, by priests, or bishops or popes. If 
we take the scriptures for our guide, these were not apostles. 
Nay, on the occasion under consideration, they did not exist; 
and when, after the resurrection, priests and bishops were appointed, 
the priests were made subject to the bishops, and the bishops (for 
example, Timothy, Titus and the seven angels) to the apostles; 
— that is, so long as the apostolate continued. For the office became 
extinguished upon the death of the last apostle who had seen Jesus 
after the resurrection, and had been personally instructed by Him ; 
since it was their personal, independent testimony unto death of 
what they themselves had actually seen and heard, which gave to 
their office its unique value and the essential reason for its existence. 

1 John 12 148; 5: 44-47. Ps. 147: 15-20; 148: 3-1 1. 



34^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



In other respects its functions could readily be supplied by ordinary 
officials; while its continuance in other hands would have tended 
to militate against the equality of Christians as brethren and the 
Lord's freemen. As for the pope, he is nowhere mentioned in 
the scriptures as a legitimate official of the church; and on this 
occasion there was not the most distant allusion to such an official, 
legitimate or illegitimate. But why speak of officials of any sort in 
connection with the passage? For in the entire narrative there is 
nothing said about even the apostolic office; and, plainly, nothing 
about bishops ; not to speak of priests or popes ; and the introduction 
of any of them into the passage is altogether the result of bald 
assumptions. And here it may be as well to note the inconsistency 
of those who maintain the claims of these officials, or of any of 
them, and notwithstanding insist that it was the acknowledgment 
by Peter, the individual, of the Messiahship and Divinity of Jesus, 
which was being rewarded. If a personal reward was given to 
Peter for a personal act, why, pray, should others claim his reward, 
and especially those who at the critical juncture could not have 
joined in the act, seeing that they were still unborn, or were not 
present ? 

1 6, In truth, inasmuch as the address of Jesus was primarily 
intended to strengthen His immediate followers, then present, 
against His rapidly approaching death, He naturally spoke of things 
which were appropriate to His purpose, — not of ecclesiastical 
officers, or of aught that pertained to them. To speak of these, 
— however useful in their place, — would have served no good 
purpose, nay, would have been downright trifling, with men who 
were looking eagerly forward to the gaining by their Messiah 
of the whole world for His kingdom, and to their becoming mighty 
princes therein. It certainly would not have comported with the 
kind and merciful heart and lofty dignity of Jesus; and it would not 
have helped the disciples to bear up bravely, when told immediately 
afterwards that He was to be torn from them by a violent death, and 
that their all-absorbing and brilliant hopes and expectations were 
idle dreams. In point of fact, that which was most calculated, 
from a mere earthly standpoint, to bolster up the human heart with 
confidence, namely, the power of working miracles, had already 
been granted to the apostles. But powers such as had been com- 
monly exercised by the old prophets of the Jewish Church, however 
great they really were, could not now, after that the Messiah had 
come, satisfy them for the loss of the regal splendour to be enjoyed 
with Him, according to their dreams, in the kingdom of the whole 
world. Nor could any apostolic powers compensate for the dread- 
ful future which, according to the words of Jesus, loomed up before 
them in place of their dreams. To appreciate what would have 



Notes 347 



been the real effect upon them of a promise of the alleged apostolic 
powers, — how it would have added fuel to the flame of disappoint- 
ment, — it would be well to recall the earthly side of the apostolate 
as depicted by an apostle himself; one, too, who had not been 
flattering himself with the visions of the twelve, and was not dazed 
with their disappointment. For the noble St. Paul was called to the 
apostolate after those visions had vanished from among the followers 
of the Crucified; and he became too much concerned about the 
spiritual welfare of others, to have regard for the estimation in 
which he was held of men, or for superiority of position among them. 
In the spirit of self-sacrifice, therefore, which Jesus on the occasion 
under consideration had enforced upon all men, and with no taint 
of ecclesiasticism, but regardful of all alike as brethren, St. Paul 
tells Christians not to go beyond what has been written , and create 
differences among them ; adding in respect of their spiritual equality, 
"Ye have reigned without us; yea, and I am obligated that ye have 
reigned, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God 
hath set forth us the apostles last, as devoted to death: for we have 
been made a spectacle unto the world, both to angels and to 
men . . . we are made as the filth of the world, the off- 
scouring of all things, until now." i Since therefore the apostolate, 
which the twelve had received already, and therewith the power 
of working miracles, was by no means a comforting possession, 
and the prospect of its exercise by no means attractive in a worldly 
sense, something of more potent influence and of a permanent 
character, even the promise of eternal life in heaven, — that Life 
and Immortality for which men had so long sighed, — was re- 
quired to give to the disciples strength of endurance, now that their 
earthly visions were setting in gloom, and the dismal future depicted 
by St. Paul was rising upon them. It was therefore both appro- 
priate and expedient that Jesus should make to them this soul- 
strengthening promise, and should couple therewith the emphatic 
warning of the duly proportioned judgment overhanging them from 
heaven according as they bound or loosed. As just intimated, they 
already knew in measure what the burden of the apostolate meant, 
for they had in a worldly sense tasted of its bitterness. There- 
tofore, however, they had been buoyed up by their earthly antici- 
pations; and now, with these taken away, and Jesus Himself killed, 
they foresaw how the bitterness of their earthly lot would terribly 
increase, and would be theirs through life, and be followed, as in 
His case, by a violent death. Even if they had not already had 
some experience in the matter, Jesus soon took care to let them know 
still more explicitly what was before them; telling them, as we 

1 I Cor. 4: 1-13. 



^ 



348 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



have seen, that their salvation, and that of all others, depended 
upon a life of self-denial; and intimating that they would be re- 
quired to sacrifice life itself; and adding, as at the first, a declaration 
of the judgment of heaven constantly going on upon each man 
according to his doing. Jesus thus the second time coupled His 
soul-strengthening promise of Immortal Life in heaven with a 
warning of exact judgment from thence administered; showing once 
more that His words applied to every man. And for their greater 
assurance He promised to some of them, as we have seen, a vision 
before their death of heaven itself, and of the Son of man coming 
in His kingdom of glory, and judging mankind just as He had 
said. 

17. In opposition to the incongruous assumptions of ecclesiasti- 
cism, I dwell upon the point, that Jesus was schooling His apostles 
to bear His unexpected disclosures; not refraining, it may well be, 
in respect of that important point, from considerable repetition; 
that the reader may realise the full force and the relevancy, fitness 
and consistency of the words of Jesus, from the beginning to the 
end of the narrative, with the occasion that called them forth, 
and the utter irrelevancy, unfitness and inconsistency of the op- 
posing assumptions in regard to those words. For unquestionably, 
the promise of Immortality to all men, and of heaven itself to the 
deserving, coupled with the declaration of continual judgment 
upon every man according to his doing, were the appropriate things 
to be held out to the apostles, and that were best calculated to stay 
their hearts on the trying occasion which we have been considering. 
And they are also the very things which enable us all to bear up 
against the ills of life; even as their ultimate application, without 
which they would hardly have appeared reasonable to the minds 
and very instincts of the twelve, was made irrespectively to all the 
congregation of the redeemed. Their particular application, how- 
ever, was so utterly foreign to the apostolic office, that no successors 
thereto, such as Paul and Barnabas, had any share in that special 
application, seeing that they were not actors in the crisis which 
called forth at the time the stimulating words of Jesus. In view, 
rather, of His actual object in giving them utterance, and of the 
vital need under the circumstances of offering to His immediate 
followers inducements to steadfastness greater than this world 
can bestow, which, in particular, should far more than counter- 
balance their visions of earthly glory in a kingdom of the whole 
world, how farcical, let me say again, appear all interpretations of 
the passage which would without authority therefrom make it apply 
to ecclesiastical officials only, such as priests, and bishops, and popes! 
— in short, to the very thing from which Jesus was seeking to 
wean them ; even to a sort of kingdom of the world ; one like the 



; 



Notes 349 



other,! yet of novel character, and of comparative insignificance in re- 
spect of what had been desired, and which was deprived of the Mes- 
siah as its visibleHead; while, however, there was substituted in His 
place a multitude of mere human beings, not clad like the scribes 
and Pharisees of old, as well as the rest of men, with the power, 
incidental to free-will, of binding and loosing, and of gaining heaven 
by mighty strivings, and of helping or retarding the progress of 
others thitherward, but armed also, respectively, with the tremen- 
dous authority, by an arbitrary act, to forgive or retain another's 
sins, and thus, by the same authority, to shut or open the gates of 
heaven to those who would enter therein , and by logical consequence 
the gates of Hades likewise to those who would escape from those 
gates. 2 

1 8. If men were untrammelled in judgment, and were not 
under the spell of usurpations which gradually grew up in the long 
centuries, no official claims based upon this passage, however in- 
significant, much less the enormous supernatural powers which 
have been rashly assumed because thereof, would be acqmesced 
in by so many good and earnest souls, whose only apparent faults 
are an unfortunate, fell spirit of partisanship that disposes them 
zealously to accept the dogmas and customs of their particular 
church, and especially those which distinguish it from other de- 
nominations, and even to take pride and find comfort in shirking 
and putting upon others the solemn responsibility which pertains 
to their own GoD-given judgment. As though he that has eyes 
to see should not see; or that has ears to hear must not hear! In 
cases like these it is evident, that the appropriate judgment is a 
"strong delusion," "an energy of error" (energeian planes),^ 
causing them to swallow voraciously the pernicious falsehoods of 
their "blind guides," and at the same time to acquire an unnatural 
distaste for plain, ordinary truth. ■* It was doubtless not without 

»C/. Rev. 17:8, II. 

2The logical consequence manifests itself in measure in masses 
for the arbitrary deliverance of the dead from the pains of exact 
judgment. 3 2 Th.2: 11, 

4 "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; 
who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not. Fear ye 
not me ? saith the Lord: ... A wonderful and horrible 
thing is come to pass in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, 
and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to 
have it so : and what will ye do in the end thereof ? . . . To 
whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their 
ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word 
of the Lord is become unto them a reproach ; they have no delight 



SSo The Foundation and the Superstructure 



intention, that the words, " But the Son of man having come, shall 
He find the faith on the earth ? " precede the parable concerning 
those "that trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and 
made naught of others." * For no man can do his part in preserv- 
ing the faith, whose implicit trust in others makes him blindly 
confident of his own freedom from error; and who in consequence 
neither realises the necessity to be watchful and diligent, and to 
examine himself, and prove for his own self, whether he be in the 
faith, nor uses as the primary source of light what St. Peter himself 
declares to be the unerring word which was given for his individual 
guidance when in the dark; even the sure word of instruction which 
comes not from man, but from the Holy Spirit, and, like other 
divine gifts, is without respect of persons; its interpretation being 
not private, but common to all. 2 Let us take due note, that it is 
no less a person than St. Peter himself who thus reminds us of what 
the Psalmist had said so long before, even that the word of God is 
a lamp unto the feet, and a light unto the path. And if the Psalm- 
ist's words just here are milder than the apostle's, it is because, 
doubtless, he had already declared a very few verses before, how, 
by availing ourselves personally of the brilliancy of the lamp of in- 

in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord." Jer. 5:21, 
22, 30, 31, and 6: 10, 11. "Forasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the 
son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father 
which he commanded them, but this people hath not hearkened 
unto me; therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the 
God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced 
against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not 
heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered." 
Jer. 35:16,17. Andsee oh. 36. Ezek. 12:1,2. Zech. 7:11. Ps. 
78:1-8, etc. 

» Luke 18:8, 9. "But the Son of man having come." It is the 
past tense. Just before God's vengeance is threatened; and the 
Son having come in vengeance, will men repent and believe ? After 
this comes the declaration as to the self-righteous, and the parable of 
the Pharisee and the publican. In truth, in spite of the judgment 
upon Jerusalem, that self-righteous nation and their church did 
not turn unto the faith, but brought upon themselves for ages 
additional judgments. Our Lord's idea is the degradation of 
soul produced by narrow, self-righteous partisanship; and the 
illustration is the spirit of the proud Pharisee. The faith therefore, 
of which He speaks, is of the heart, not of the mind; or character, 
and not orthodoxy. 

22 Cor. 13:5. 2 Pet. 1 : 19-21. 15.51:4. 



Notes 351 



spiration, we may gain more understanding than teachers can give, 
or even than the teachers possess, at whose feet men are so wont 
to surrender their manhood. 1 For it is only by the humble, patient, 
and devout study of, as well as by obedience to, divine revelation 
that teachers and scholars alike can possess themselves of those 
qualifications which form the heavenly character, and fit one for 
heaven. And, certainly, it is not by abject subservience to author- 
ity, that man acquires the free spirit which the Bible inculcates, 
coupled with the genuine humility which comes from the frequent 
failures of his independent efforts; or that he learns how to bear 
the manly burden of responsibility, and to fight bravely against 
error, and to be watchful, careful, earnest, truth-loving, diligent, 
painstaking, and the like. On the other hand, it is through just 
such a spirit of subservience that the stickler for authority de- 
generates into a helpless, dependent, unprogressive parasite, and 
loses out of his own hands, because of his dependent condition, 
that most necessary weapon both for offence and defence, even "the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 2 As St. Paul 
would say (when using the figure of the lamp) of the man who 
slavishly relies upon another to do his thinking, and neglects his 
own gifts, he quenches the Spirit, — his own as well as that of God, — 
and makes nought of its prophesyings or teachings. 3 And just 
as our Lord tells us, so, when unchangeably confident that he is in 
the right, because of his blind trust in guides, he not only makes 
nought of what the scriptures say, but of those who depend upon 
them. In consequence, in things which make for heavenly progress, 
his tendencies are to become idle, unfruitful, narrow-minded, 
superstitious, saturated with partisan prejudice and bitterness, 
and altogether the opposite of him whom inspiration significantly 
styles "the Lord's freeman"; — of him who, obeying the command 
which follows this designation, is no servant of men, but maintains 
his spiritual freedom, although in worldly position he may be a 
bondman. 4 

19. "But the Son of man having come, shall He find the faith 
on the earth ? " For in every denomination of Christians how few, 
in truth, are the Lord's freemen! How almost universal is 
the subservience to authority! In what follows this alarming 

> Ps. 119:99, 105. 2Eph. 6:17. 

3 "Quench not the Spirit; do not make nought of prophesyings. 
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from every 
form of evil." i Th. 5 : 19-22. 

* I Cor. 7:22, 23. "Hear this, all ye peoples; give ear, all ye 
inhabitants of the world : both low and high, rich and poor together." 
Ps. 49: 1, 2. 



c 

352 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



question of the Judge of men, He makes it plain, that He is speak- 
ing, not so much of orthodoxy, as of conduct ; — of the truly saving 
faith that means obedience; and in its need looks to Him for light, 
from whom every good and perfect gift proceeds 1 ; studying earnestly 
His illuminating word both to believe and do aright ; remembering 
how He invites as well as commands His free-will creation, and with 
such frequent repetition, again and again saying, "He that hath 
ears to hear, let him hear." 2 The illustration which Jesus gives of 
what He had said is that of a proud Pharisee, who, trusting to the 
infallible judgment of the rulers and Pharisees of the Church, 3 
felt sure of being in the right, and disdained the lowly publican that 
in self-abasement was depending upon God, and who in conse- 
quence "went back to his house made righteous instead of the 
other " ; the one having the faith which develops heavenward, and 
the other that which degenerates.* The very gift of revelation 
implies the duty of its full, reverent, and unrestrained use, and on 
him who stands in the way thereof lies the weighty burden of 
justifying his dangerous position, s That the Bible should with 
exceeding care add greatly to this burden by giving an apparently 
innumerable array of miscellaneous texts enforcing the duty, and 
never one to the contrary, shows how important the duty is in 
the eye of God. And it shows still more. For consider, in all the 
centuries, how "the many," especially those of influence, or in 
ecclesiastical positions, have continually evinced an inherent dislike 
to the exercise of individual judgment in religious matters, caring 

ijas. i: 17. 

2Matt. 11: 15; 13:9, 14, 15, 43. Mk. 4:9, 23; 7:16; 8:18. Ltike 
8:8; 9:44; i4:'3S- Rev. 2: 7, 11, 17, 29; 3: 6, 13, 22; 13:9. Note the 
care with which the saying is re-recorded also in the different gospels. 
"And these are they which were sown on the good ground; such 
as hear and receive the word, and bring forth fruit, one thirty-fold, 
and one sixty, and one an hundred. And He said unto them. Is the 
lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and 
not to be set on the stand? For there is nothing hid, which should 
not be made known; nor was anything kept secret, but that it 
should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 
And He said unto them. Take heed what ye hear: with what meas- 
ure ye mete it shall be measured to you; and unto you that hear 
shall more be added. For he that hath, to him shall be given; and 
he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he 
hath." Mk. 4:20-25. See Preface. 

3 John 7:48. ■* Luke 18: 8-14. 

5 "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath 
spoken. Is. 1:2. 



Notes 353 



more for orthodoxy than character. That therefore the numerous 
writers of the Bible, who were of such different periods, and places, 
and walks in life, should uniformly and independently recognise 
all men to whom the Bible is given to be on a common level in its 
interpretation, or each one to have the same authority therein 
with every other; thus, in spite of the general tendency outside 
of the sacred book, keeping true to what sound reason and logical 
consistency require; — is one of the conspicuous supernatural proofs 
of the inspiration of those writers. It is a miracle which could not 
have happened in the natural course of things; and it demonstrates 
what St. Peter declares, that they were moved by the Spirit. And 
let us keep well in memory, that St. Peter prefaces his declaration 
(when we interpret what he says according to invariable Greek 
usage) by affirming, that the interpretation of scripture is not exclu- 
sive, but public and common ; and that he prefaces this affirmation 
with a concordant statement, namely, that we do well to take heed to 
the word of prophecy as unto a light that shineth to illuminate our 
darkness. Observe, then, how a correct rendering shows the con- 
sistency of the apostle with himself and with the other sacred writers. 
But how would it be, if we introduce the misinterpretation of ecclesi- 
asticism? Should we not make of St. Peter's words a rope of sand; 
and in their utter lack of coherence be compelled to admit, not only 
that he was not infallible, but that he was not even inspired? 
And in what way would the claims of the priests, the bishops, or 
the pope be thereby substantiated? For that matter, what con- 
nection is there anyway between these ecclesiastics and the words 
of St. Peter which we have had under consideration, seeing that in 
none of them are they so much as mentioned ? In view however of 
the positive statements contained in the words of the inspired 
apostle, declaring the common right and duty of men both to 
take heed to and to interpret all teaching of scripture i for their own 
special guidance, and even because of the darkness of their hearts, it 
is obvious that no man or council of men may lawfully assert a 
claim to judge for Others in the interpretation of scripture, and still 
less to be infallible therein. And inasmuch as such claims are in 
the face of a wonderful harmony of inspiration to the contrary, 
and can only gain colour by causing the Bible to appear inconsistent 
and self- destructive, they abundantly make manifest the nature of 
the tree of which they are the fruit. They certainly cannot be 
maintained when, as the Bible directs, we compare scripture 
with scripture, and in particular with the words and actions of 

» The strict form of Peter's language is, "that every prophecy 
(or, all teaching) of scripture is not of exclusive (or, private) inter- 
pretation." 



354 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



St, Peter himself, and of his fellow apostles, and above all with 
the many, most emphatic sayings of our Lord on other occasions, 

20. It would be pertinent, if brevity permitted, to treat more 
at length of the right of private judgment as continually set forth 
in the scriptures, and of the gradual assertion and acceptance of 
ecclesiastical claims in opposition thereto; and to show, in particular, 
how in the Western Church the pretensions of the bishop of Rome, 
after long centuries had passed away, slowly rose and matured, ow- 
ing to his favourable position in the capital of the Roman Empire, 
at the centre of civilisation, intelligence, and culture; and how, on 
the other hand, the Eastern Church escaped his domination, 
chiefly because of the establishment by Constantine of a new capital 
in the eastern part of the empire, long before even in the west those 
pretensions had been put forth. What great advantages the 
bishop of the old capital derived from his position may be seen from 
the custom which grew up in the west for the bishops of the more 
rural districts to resort to him for advice ; the result being, after the 
origin and reason of the practice had become obscured under the 
mantle of time, and antiquity had begun to lend its peculiar sanctity 
thereto, that the advice was given with a deepening colour of 
authority. Moreover, on the principle that to those that have more 
shall be given, at the corresponding loss of those that have not, » 
other circumstances from time to time increased the importance 
of his bishopric, 2 Thus in 3 2 5 the Council of Nice gave its approval 
to the association of certain neighbouring dioceses under his juris- 
diction as metropolitan; similar jurisdictions having been elsewhere 
established, and the provinces of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch 
having been for a considerable period thereafter the greatest in the 
church. But such an honour, while adding greatly to the dignity 
and influence of the bishop of Rome, demonstrates at once how 
far he still was from being recognised as a full-fledged pope. The 
three ancient writers hereinabove mentioned afford conclusive 
evidence also, and of a later date, to the same effect. For Ambrose, 
who became archbishop of Milan in 374, and died in 397, and who 
was educated in Rome, makes his deductions from the address 
of Jesus to Peter only in behalf of himself and his fellow bishops, 
saying nothing whatever of any special claims of the Roman bishop. 
In fact, the jurisdiction of Ambrose was altogether independent 
of that of Rome. In like manner, Augustine, who, though an 
African Numidian by birth, had spent much time in Rome, and 
also in Milan, where he was baptised by Ambrose, and was the 
bishop of Hippo, in Numidia, from 395 to 430, says again nothing 
whatever of papal claims, as we have seen, even when interpreting 

1 Matt. 13:12. 2 Gieseler, I., § 58. 



Notes 355 



the same address; indicating that he also either did not know of any- 
such claims while so interpreting, or that they had not at the time 
gained sufficient importance to make an impression upon his mind. » 
21. The third of the above mentioned writers to whom for 
brevity I must confine myself was Vincent of Lerins; the very 
object of whose Commonitory, written in 434, was to guide the 
individual to all proper sources of divine truth. His ignorance of 
any exclusive claims of the see of Rome over the whole church is in 
like manner conclusive evidence against their existence in his day. 
And this evidence is the more interesting and valuable, not only 
because of its object, but also by reason of the high esteem which 
he expresses for the Roman see and its then bishop. His argu- 
ment throughout is based upon the right of private judgment; 
only he would guide the individual to its proper exercise. 2 He 

» Augustine however considered every church founded by an 
apostle a sort of papal authority in itself, and that one who was 
not in communion with such a church was a schismatic (Contra 
literas Petiliani, ii., 51; and the other authorities quoted in Gieseler 
I., § 94). From this we may infer, that a main source of the papacy 
in the Western Church, in which Rome was the only church so 
founded, was the rise of the several patriarchates and their con- 
firmation by the Council of Nice. A narrowing process was thus 
commenced, by which authority was limited to fewer and still fewer 
hands, with the result in the Western Church of the papacy. The 
view of Augustine, notwithstanding, was singular, for Ambrose, by 
whom he was baptised, and whom he so exceedingly admired, was 
altogether independent of Rome, as well in jurisdiction, as in 
matters of faith and practice. And as an African bishop Augustine 
must have known all about the contentions against Rome of Cyprian 
and his fellow African bishops, and their spirit of equality, and 
complete independence of what Rome determined. At all events, 
the various sayings of Augustine must be interpreted in the light 
of this peculiar view; which itself showed that he had no thought 
of the papal claims of the bishop of Rome, but regarded his see as 
on a par with the apostolic sees of the East; just as Tertullian before 
him, and Vincent shortly afterwards, looked to them for light, but 
not for leading. What led Augustine to his view was to make a 
point in the zeal of controversy against his opponents. 

2 Vincent opens with a statement of his object, and shows through- 
out an utter ignorance of any infallibility in the bishop of Rome. 
"The right of private judgment is assumed as the basis of the trea- 
tise, the duty assumed throughout. How utterly unnecessary the 
rule of Vincent, and all the minuteness of his cautions concerning its 
application, had the Church in his time known of an infallible 



( 



35^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



declares the holy scriptures to be the supreme external guide to 
spiritual truth; but for a case where it is not sufficiently clear, he 
lays down his celebrated rule, to wit, "that we hold that which has 
been believed everywhere, always, and by all." As a subordinate 
means of enlightening the judgment, he, among other things, calls 
attention to " an apostolical see," having particularly in view, being 
in the West, that of Rome; because, doubtless, it was the only see of 
the Western Church wherein apostles had taught, and was best known 
to his readers. » In this advice especially in regard to the familiarity 

spokesman," etc. Translator's Preface of the Baltimore edition of 
1247. And see note "D" on § i of Wm. Reeves. 

1 It was with Vincent, as to apostolic sees, simply a matter of 
evidence. Quoting St. Paul in Gal. i : 6-9, he comments: " What is 
that which he says, 'But though we?' Why not rather, 'But though 
I ? ' It signifies, that though Peter, though Andrew, though John, 
though, in fine, the whole band of the apostles should preach to you 
another gospel beside that we have preached, let him be an anath- 
ema." Cow., I., c. viii., § 12. Evidently Vincent knew no infalli- 
bility outside the Bible. In respect of the bidding of St. Paul not 
to receive another gospel even from an angel from heaven, Vincent 
says, "Not that the only and heavenly angels are now capable of 
sin " ; but in regard to Peter and the whole band of the apostles he 
makes no such comment. lb. Rather, " in the ancient Church itself " 
he requires the testimony not "of any one part, but of the whole," 
as required by his fundamental rule, c. v. § 8. Oblivious of any 
superiority of Roman over other bishops, he writes: "These, then, 
are the men whose writings were recited in that Council (of Ephesus), 
as those either of judges or else of witnesses." He then names 
with commendation, first, seven bishops of the Eastern Church, 
and goes on: "But that it may be shown that not Greece alone, or 
only the East, but also the Western and Latin world had always 
so held {i. e. as did the others), there were read there also certain 
epistles of St. Felix the martyr, and St. Julius, bishops of Rome " 
(indifferently mentioned) ; and then he ends with * ' the most blessed 
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage and martyr," and St. Ambrose whom 
he had previously eulogised. Com.., II., c. iii. (or xxx.). The title 
"Pope" is here omitted, though Vincent sometimes prefixes it 
to the name of a Roman bishop. Why not here as a mark of dis- 
tinction from the other bishops named ? The truth is, the title 
at the period was often given to bishops, in spite of the command 
to call no one on earth " Father, " i. e., as depriving of his liberty the 
child of God. Thus Jerome inscribes a letter to Augustine, " To 
the most honourable Pope." As late as 1073 the title in the 
Roman Church was restricted to the bishop of Rome. In the 



Notes 357 



arising from propinquity, he follows Tertullian, who (about A.D. 
200) writes: "Run over the apostolic churches, wherein the very- 
chairs of the apostles still remain in view in those places; wherein 
their authentic letters are read , sounding forth the voice and repre- 
senting the face of each one respectively. Is Achaia nearest to 
thee? Thou hast Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia, 
thou hast Philippi, thou hast Thessalonia. If thou canst go into 
Asia, thou hast Ephesus. If thou art adjacent to Italy, thou hast 
Rome, from whence to us also an authority is at hand." 1 Observe 
in this, how Tertullian in Africa, but little over a century after apos- 
tolic times, puts the churches wherein apostles had taught on 
one common level, to be indifferently consulted, according as this 
or that church chanced to be handy. Of Rome he simply says, 
that it was convenient to those in proximity to Italy. His words 
show also how early the dust of antiquity was obscuring the faith; 
and that no secret, reliable revelation had descended from the 
apostles through the episcopal office, or otherwise; and further, 
that no special claims of Rome had obtruded themselves upon the 
mind of the writer. And in like manner Vincent indicates the like 
condition of things to have prevailed for over two centuries there- 
after; as is the general testimony of the period. The argument 
against Rome is decidedly stronger than if the several writers had 
expressly arrayed themselves in opposition to papal claims on the 
part of that see. 2 For such opposition, however reasonable, would, 

Greek Church it is still used even of priests, like ' ' Father " in the 
Latin. It is also to this day a title of the patriarch of Alexandria. 

1 De Praescript. Haer. 

2 In regard to the existence of things in ancient times it is ever 
negative testimony which is the more valuable, — what was not said, 
more than what was said. Indeed, when we consider the multiplied 
disputations of the early ages, and how, so very naturally the same 
writer would differ from time to time on an important matter from 
what he himself had previously concluded, — of which we have an 
example in Augustine's interpretation of our passage, and in respect 
of the disputations an earlier example in the discussion between 
Poly carp, who was said to have been ordained bishop of Smyrna by 
St. John, and Anicetas bishop of Rome, as to the proper time of 
keeping Easter, — when, I repeat, we consider so many differences 
in early times, we perceive at once that the early bishops in their 
positive statements have only ordinary claims upon the attention, 
and that there was in them no mysterious deposit of truth received 
from the apostles outside the sacred writings, as is assumed without 
proof by the advocates of the papacy. It follows, that Vincent's 
great rule is our only safe guide, and that early individual state- 



35^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



without reason, surely have been taken advantage of to imply 
the legitimacy of the claims, and their existence from apostolic 
times; although more might be claimed on the same ground in be- 
half of the heresies which took their rise in the early centuries as 
to the divine personality of Jesus Himself,^ But a complete ignor- 
ance of papal claims by writers who were telling of the best sources 
of Christian knowledge, and who spoke favourably of apostolic sees, 
and of Rome itself, and yet, though of the West, gave the only West- 
ern apostolic see no preference over such sees in the East, save that 
Rome was nearer and better known to Christians in the West, and 
was frequented by believers from all directions, 2 — all this, to an un- 
prejudiced, non-partisan mind, would seem to be a positive death- 
blow to the assumptions which have been made in behalf of that 
see. 

22. Nay, the very resort to apostolic sees tells mightily of itself 
against those assumptions, and shows, in particular, an utter igno- 
rance of the infallibility which has been set up in later times for the 
Roman bishop. When indeed, through misinterpretation or other 
evil influences, the light of holy scripture seemed to illumine but 
dimly, or not at all, the darkness of men's hearts, and heresies were 
abounding, and bishops assuming lordly airs and powers, and re- 
ceiving undue deference bordering on, if not equivalent to actual 
worship, and the church was fast becoming a kingdom of the world, 
notwithstanding the scathing rebuke of our Lord to Peter for 
wishing that very thing, and good men, pursuant to God's ordi- 
nary plan of development, were being sorely tried, with no recog- 
nised infallible teacher granted to them on whom to lean as parasites 
and bring degradation upon all their manly and self-ennobling char- 
acteristics — under such circumstances, it was but natural that they 
should have turned in their multiplied perplexities to the great 
churches which had received instruction from apostolic lips. It 

ments are as much open to criticism as those of a writer of the pres- 
ent day. 

1 Later on, the manner of writing seems to imply that Rome was 
beginning to make pretensions that were to be resisted. Thus 
Jerome takes pains to speak of the bishop of that city as holding his 
part of the episcopate as much as the bishop of Eugubium, and no 
more. 

^Gieseler, I., § 51, n. 10; quoting also and explaining Iren. iii., 3. 
The frequent coming to Rome of believers from all directions had 
much to do with preserving at the first the purity of the faith both 
there and elsewhere, until the rise of the papacy, which its final 
tendency was to bring about and greatly aid. 



Notes 359 



might have been a surer plan perhaps, in general, to have sought 
out answers to vexing questions among the more humble, but 
independent churches, which were also far removed from each other, 
and especially from those that were of great wealth, and correspond- 
ing importance and influence, — from churches without worldly pre- 
tensions or ambitions, where the lowly members were more likely 
to be found treading in all humility in the old paths in which their 
fathers had trodden before them ; each of such churches being, as 
St. Paul had told Timothy of each of those of the Ephesian diocese, 
"a household of God, which is a congregation of a living God, a 
pillar and base (or seat) of the truth." i At all events, what little 
reliance is to be placed upon the stability of the faith in apostolic 
churches, even in the days of an apostle who there himself became 
a teacher, is made manifest by the Lord Himself, For to the great 
church of Ephesus, the very one of whose subordinate churches 
St. Paul had spoken to Timothy as above, wherein also St. John, 
the last of the apostles, in his old age abode, Jesus commanded to 
be written as follows: "But I have against thee, that thou hast 
left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou hast 
fallen, and repent, and do the first works; else I come unto thee 
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except 
thou repent." 2 And yet, this same church St. Paul had warned 
with great solemnity many years before of the corrupt teaching 
that was to afflict them after his death; and indeed had spent 
three years among them repeating his warnings and "thoroughly 
testifying the Gospel of the Grace of God"; to wit, the Gospel 
which told of "the turning to God, and Faith, that (namely) in 
our Lord Jesus Christ"; "keeping back," the apostle expressly 
states, "nothing that was profitable," and therefore nothing that 
was communicated to only Timothy their bishop; but, he adds, 
"proclaiming to you and teaching you, in public, and from house 
to house, all the counsel of God." 3 What strong words are 
these! Let us pause then to note how throughout this discourse 
to the presbyters of Ephesus St. Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, 
completely disposes of the barefaced invention of a later age, 
whereby, it is hoped, that is to say, by means of alleged esoteric 
revelations from the apostles through the episcopal office, to account 
for the appearance from time to time of the respective novelties of 

1 I Tim. 3:15. See § 75 (a), 

2 Rev. 2 : 4, 5. I.e., "If thy light, or teaching, is not gospel light, 
it shall be removed." 

3 Acts 20 : 1 7-32. For the translations see the Greek text. — " The 
Faith, that in, " etc. See for similar phraseology i Tim. 1:14 (with 
15), and 2 Tim. i: 13 (with 9, 10,) and § 22 (o), ^ 2. 



^ 



360 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Rome.* In apostolic teaching, however, we see how favoured was 
the church of Ephesus; and that it was the last of all to receive 
instruction from apostolic lips. And it not only had the benefit of 
teaching from the apostles Paul and John, but most likely from 
Peter also, on one or more of his missionary circuits, and probably 
from other apostles. And yet, thus early, even in St. John's day, 
did it require to be rebuked by the Lord! And thus early also did 
the congregations, which St. Paul had called pillars and seats of the 
truth, cease to be perfect examples thereof to men! Whoever, in 
fact, takes due note of the changes constantly going on among men, 
and how important these become in a single century, will hardly 
rely upon the stability of belief in individual churches, whether 
apostolic or otherwise. The whole body of mankind, that is to say, 
the great congregation of the redeemed, is verily founded in Im- 
mortal Life upon the immovable Rock, which is Christ]; 2 for the 
works of that which is changeable have nought to do with laying 
of a Foundation which is unchangeable; "but the Son of man 
having come " in judgment upon those works where really required, 
"shall He find the Faith on the Earth? " Of all the seven churches 
of the Revelation, Smyrna only was not reproved; and its candle- 
stick alone still remains in its place. And has Rome made no 
changes ; which for centuries made no pretensions that demanded 
extraordinary attention, but now claims to be supreme in all things 
over the churches ? 3 Rather, in many things beside, it should be 

1 The deposit of 2 Tim. i : 12, 14, was of the ministry of the gos- 
pel to all, at all times, and so far therefore from being secret, was 
committed to Timothy in the presence of many witnesses (2 Tim. 
2:2). 2 I Cor. 10: 4. 

3 Many things contributed from time to time to augment the 
power of Rome, one of which, the Council of Sardice (347), is of 
frequent mention. Says a writer: "It has been rendered chiefly 
remarkable by a canon authorising (Julius, who was then) the 
bishop of Rome to receive appeals from any parties who might feel 
aggrieved by the decisions of provincial synods, and to order a 
rehearing of the cause, should it appear to him to have been im- 
properly decided. . . . Rightly viewed, the Sardican decree, 
which is candidly allowed by an eminent Roman Catholic (Petrus 
de Marca) to be the foundation of papal power, is, in reality, fatal to 
its claims, inasmuch as it disproves the existence of any such 
appellate jurisdiction" previously. John A. Baxter, The Church 
History of England, pp. 19, 20. The decree was personal to Julius 
only; though, even so, it contravened the fifth canon of the Nicene 
Council constituting provincial synods final courts of appeal. Yet 
Pope Zosimus (417-418) represented to the African bishops the 



Notes 361 



asked, When shall her changes cease? As late as December 8, 1854, 
the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
which had been growing into favour from about the twelfth century, 
became a part of her faith; and in 1870 that of the infallibility of 
the pope was promulgated by the Vatican Council; both additions 
to the faith occurring in less than a quarter of the last century! 

23. More has been said than was intended in illustration of the 
universal silence of the writers of the early ages in regard to the 
existence of the papacy. Still, an additional example of the igno- 
rance of any claims of the see of Rome above other sees is of such 
a remarkable nature that its introduction here seems excusable. 
The author of the Clementines, himself a Roman, and there educated, 
who wrote toward the end of the second century, in the epistle 
prefixed to his work, notwithstanding he is the first ancient writer 
to claim St. Peter as a bishop of Rome, and thus evinced a strong 
natural tendency to honour his native city, displayed, nevertheless, 
an utter absence of knowledge of any papal pretensions on the part 
of that see; but, on the contrary, represented even the apostle him- 
self to have written to St. James, as "to the lord and bishop of the 
holy church"; and, moreover, the address of another epistle, 
alleged to have been by the Clement of Phil. 4:3, who did in fact 
become bishop of Rome, to have been "to James, the lord and 
bishop of bishops, ruling both the holy church of the Hebrews 
at Jerusalem, and those everywrhere by God's providence duly 
established." 1 In spite of the early date of this writer, such rep- 
resentations only provoke a smile; and they do this too, notwith- 
standing the presiding by James both over the see where 
Christianity started, and over the council there held, where Peter 
was present. And yet, how quickly the imaginary testimony of 
the ancient writer would have been seized upon to bolster up the 

decree to be that of Nice. These able and wary bishops, amazed, at 
once procured from the East all the Nicene decrees, disclosing there- 
by the cheat. Answering Boniface (418-422), the successor of 
Zosimus, they hoped to have no further cause to complain of the 
pride and arrogance of Rome. Nevertheless, Leo I. (440-461), 
"the great" advancer of Roman pretensions, in more than one 
case reported the imposture! J. C. Robertson, Hist, of the Chris. 
Church, 284, 285, 440, In these things we are reminded of St. Paul's 
solemn warning to all whose "energy of error" lays them open to 
believe any lie (i Th. 2 : 3-12); and of whom, of course, the lying 
spirit makes an easy prey. "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall 
know them." Matt. 7: 20. 
1 Gieseler, I., § 58. 



362 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



claims of Rome, if the address had been to Peter by James and 
Clement respectively. When however the ancient Roman dem- 
onstrates in other parts of his work his profound respect for Peter, 
even calling him the founder of the Roman see, and also for Clement, 
whom he declares to have been the immediate successor of the 
apostle therein, and even represents his own work as the teaching 
of Peter through Clement, although we may question his accuracy 
in respect of events over a century old, still, we must recognise, 
that he would neither have been inclined, nor would have dared to 
ignore any special claims pertaining to them or to his native see, 
which were commonly admitted in his own time. The attempt 
would only have exposed him to obloquy and ridicule, and would 
have been decidedly detrimental to the purpose of his work. That 
he says nothing therefore of any such special claims, and even rep- 
resents the bishop of Rome as himself acknowledging the universal 
supremacy of the church to be in James, the apostle who had filled 
the office of bishop of Jerusalem, is very positive testimony against 
the existence of such supremacy in the Roman see at that period. 
The example further proves, in what is said of James, how little we 
can depend on writers of the early ages, and how carefully we must 
separate the gold from the dross; only feeling ourselves on solid 
ground when seeking for truth in the holy word of God. 

24. At all events, for one born, educated, and living in Rome, 
toward the latter part of the second century, the very nature of 
whose work required him to claim all for Peter that he could, because 
of the pretence of the false teaching therein being that of the 
apostle; — for such a one to have put into the mouths of Peter 
himself and his alleged successor an acknowledgment that the 
lordship over the whole church was in another apostle, elsewhere 
located; while he said nothing whatever of any such supremacy 
being in themselves, or any claim of a papal character; and yet, 
to have greatly honoured them, pursuant to the demand of his 
work; — all this is certainly sufficient, especially in view of the life- 
long, daily familiarity of the author with the church in his native 
city, to demonstrate that in his day its papal pretensions had not 
arisen. I cannot understand how an honest, unprejudiced, well- 
informed person could assert otherwise. Rather, with such minds, I 
may have to meet the criticism, that it is puerile to be industriously 
proving such well-known facts. Be it so. But let it be remembered, 
that in challenging the deductions which have been drawn from our 
Lord's address to Peter, (who was only the spokesman of the 
apostolic band, and the receiver for the whole world of the promise 
of eternal Life in heaven, and of the warning of exact judgment 
according to deeds,) I am not writing merely for the well informed. 



Notes 363 



"but also for those who do not realise, and who sorely need, the stim- 
ulus that would be gained for each one personally by an accurate 
interpretation of the address, and by the consequent knowledge of 
the stirring nature of its great promise and solemn warning, and 
who do not know the facts above given. Nevertheless, not to try 
the patience of the former class, or weary the latter, I omit further 
drafts from the great mass of similar evidence. What has been 
given is certainly enough for the uneducated, or for those who have 
given little or no attention to early Christian writers, although, it 
may be, too much for scholars in divinity. At any rate, it should 
serve to remind both classes of their GoD-given liberty, with its 
accompanying inseparable accountability to the great Giver only, 
and especially in relation to the interpretation of scripture ; as also 
was taught by St. Peter; and that in spiritual matters we should 
call no man an authoritative master, or teacher, or father; — that is to 
say, so as to make what men teach obligatory upon the conscience, 
in opposition to a man's own judgment, however much we may 
venerate them in all these capacities, whenever they guide ourselves 
or others to a nobler and truer life. But the special object here, in 
the evidence above adduced, is to show the ignorance of papal pre- 
tensions even in the Western Church (to whose writers only atten- 
tion has been purposely confined) as late as the year 434, the date 
of Vincent's treatise; and to point out the inevitable conclusion 
against the existence of those pretensions during the entire period, 
and against their legitimacy at any time. The period of the exis- 
tence, in general, of this ignorance might have been, for confirm- 
atory purposes, still further extended; but for no other reason. 
Because the proving of such ignorance in the days of St. Peter and 
of the other apostles, and in the times nearest to them, is more to 
the purpose than anything that could have occurred in the centuries 
thereafter; — in fact, demonstrates the pretensions which arose in 
later centuries to be additions to, or subtractions from, the faith 
once delivered to the saints. * That these pretensions are contra- 
dictory to the words of inspiration, and to the spirit of fraternity, 
and equality, and liberty pervading the Gospel of Christ, is of it- 
self destructive of the attempt to make them appear as develop- 
ments of that faith. 

25. Because, indeed, they are so well known to be such additions 
or subtractions, and one is able to put the finger upon the time 
when they were severally successfully asserted, Roman theologians 
have been forced to try and gloss them over as "developments" of 
the Christian faith; that is, that they have sprung naturally there- 
from, or are the result of evolution. This, by the way, was after the 

« Jude 3. 



364 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



more intelligent and single-hearted of them had realised how fatu- 
itous was the idea of any secret deposit of truth being handed down 
from the apostles through the bishops; * that is to say, after the 
fatuity was only preached and written about by those whose ex- 
treme partisan zeal had dulled their mental perceptions or who 
were unscrupulous enough to attempt an imposition upon the 
ignorant, the susceptible, and such as were open to the reception of 
whatever was fanciful and mysterious. Such a barefaced assump- 
tion (as it is in fact) shows how hard pressed Rome has been to 
defend her novelties in the face of the command neither to add to 
nor take from that which is written. 2 How ridiculous was this 
first resort of hers, in view of the bitter controversies between the 
early bishops themselves, without a single appeal from any one of 
them to this alleged secret source of accurate knowledge! One can 
well imagine how the novelty of such an appeal, if made, would 
have excited the wonder and derision of the opposing bishop or 
bishops! and how, verily, at once, it would have been met, after the 
fashion of an argumenfum ad hominem, by appeals of like character, 
derisively made, on the other side of the question! But is the sub- 
stituted theory of "development" any less a bald assumption? 
Is it not clearly a second, and, it is to be hoped, a last resort of 
helplessness against the attacks of enlightened reason? And do 
not the anxious efforts to get under such a subsequently sewed 
together apron of fig leaves, for lack of satisfactory covering, only 
expose the more what is a ridiculous and miserable plight ? From 
what seed, doctrine, or principle of the Christian faith did these 
novelties severally develop ; and by what process ? And how comes 
it that such devices as the immaculate conception of the Virgin and 
the infallibility of the pope, both of them ascribing to human beings 

1 To remedy the lack of "antiquity" (and, I may add, of "con- 
sent" and "universality") in the novelties of Rome "resort has 
been had, first to the supposition of a disciplina arcani, by which 
Romish tenets must have been held ... in studious con- 
cealment, to come out only one by one through the course of the 
following centuries of distraction and decline both secular arid 
ecclesiastical; and then, that failing, more recently to the theory 
of an assumed development, by which the deposit once committed 
to the Church (the author means, bishops) may enlarge itself and 
branch forth into new doctrines and practice, with progress of years 
and in the advancement of society." — Translator's Preface to Vin- 
cent. 

2 Deut. 4:2; 12:32. Josh. 1:7; 11:15. Prov. 30:5,6. Matt. 
i5'3~9- Is. 29:10-14. Col. 2:6-8, 16-22. Tit. 1:14. Rev. 
22 : 17—20 . 



i 



Notes 365 



that which pertains to a superhuman nature only, took over nine- 
teen hundred years for their ultimate production? Was it because 
they are so utterly opposed to the free spirit and teaching of the 
scriptures ? It can hardly be denied that this is the natural infer- 
ence; and accordingly such long delayed novelties require the 
greater and more certain proof for their due authentication. Unless 
their character as logical and necessary developments of the faith 
of the gospel can be well established, and in thorough conformity 
therewith, they should be regarded as irreverent and presumptuous 
additions thereto. Apart from such certain proof, and from also a 
positive showing forth of the necessity and reasonableness of the 
novelties, their natural tendency would seem to be, rather, in 
harmony with the destructive designs of Satan, and not at all with 
the inspired teaching and elevating purpose of the Word of God. 

26. While I would like to say somewhat of both these latest 
novelties of Rome, my subject confines me to the latest of all. More 
even than in respect of other dogmas, it is in the delay in the formal 
promulgation of the infallibility of the pope that we have an espe- 
cially strong argument against its truth. For we may well ask why, 
if the infallibility of a living interpreter were needful, or even bene- 
ficial to men, the prolonged period of over nineteen centuries was 
suffered to elapse before an authorised announcement thereof was 
made, and particularly, seeing that the dogma manifestly implies 
(contrary, however, to the inspired word) that orthodoxy, correct 
teaching, is more worthy of consideration than the working out by 
the individual of his own salvation with all fear and trembling; or 
that a state of parasitical dependence upon another is better than 
to be the freeman of the Lord , as in so many ways is commanded 
in holy writ. Even if the strange contention were true, and the 
commandments of God should not be in harmony in this matter, 
are we to conclude that the formal announcement of this alleged 
accessible source of infallible teaching and interpretation was de- 
ferred, because after July 18, 1870, souls became more valuable 
to God than before; although so long before Jesus died to save all 
men alike ? Why, of all things, should we now-a-days be favoured 
above those who in days of bitter persecution proved their unselfish 
devotion to the faith even unto death, enduring the most dreadful 
bodily agonies ; and who at the same time contended zealously and 
earnestly with one another for the truth of the gospel, studying 
anxiously and with painstaking care the word of God for its divine 
illumination and the avoidance of error; not knowing that they 
had at hand in this lately asserted infallibility of the bishop of 
Rome a sure and easy way of settling their doubts and controver- 
sies; — nay, rather, often contending with Rome itself for what they 
believed to be true. Taking St. Peter at his word, as set forth in 



366 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



his second epistle, and relying upon like teaching in the other 
scriptures, they conceived the word of God to be the "sure word 
of prophecy," and that they were directly commanded to give it 
heed, and were assured therein that its interpretation was not 
private or exclusive, but open and common to all. We can under- 
stand, indeed, how in due time, or not until the time appointed, 
Christ died for all men; seeing that by anticipation His work from 
the beginning was effective for all mankind; and that, in addition, 
a long course of antecedent training and prophetical testimony 
and teaching was needed to make ready the way of the Lord,* 
and to furnish supernatural proof for all time of the verity of His 
divine mission and of what it was to accomplish. And we can 
understand also, why, after His coming, the history of the great 
event, and of the important matters pertaining thereto, or con- 
nected therewith, together with the several momentous revelations 
accompanying the same, should have been fully given to men, and 
duly authenticated by living witnesses as coming forth from those 
who were ' ' moved by the Holy Spirit " to tell about them ; so that 
as St. Peter himself declares in regard to his own testimony, we 
may, after his decease, in a permanent written form, "have these 
things always in remembrance," 2 or not be compelled to rely upon 
the unsteady voice of a changeful church, and its man-made, 
repeatedly added novelties, and its varying successions of change- 
ful teachers and preachers. Evidently therefore St. Peter did not 
recognise that there would be after him any line of infallible popes, 
but on the contrary took the precaution of guarding against the 
errors of all who should come after him, whoever they might be. ^ 

1 Matt. 3:4. Luke 1:76; 24:25-27. John 1:23. Is. 40:3. 

2 2 Pet. 1 : 12-21. See also Luke i : 1-4. Acts i : 1-3. 

3 While the council which promulgated the pope's infallibility 
was being held, an intelligent papist, in evident touch with eccle- 
siastical opinion in his church in this country, assured me with 
emphasis that the doctrine was never that of Rome, and would 
never be promulgated by the council. When, however, soon after, 
the promulgation occurred, with apparent forgetfulness, he just 
as strongly averred, that the church had always held the doctrine. 
And this, although history tells, how after centuries it arose, was 
resisted for centuries more, and was finally promulgated as late 
as 1870! Many years before this, at a consecration in a R. C. 
cathedral (in Mott St., New York) of a bishop for Buffalo, a bishop 
preached, with special reference to the pope, of equality in the 
episcopate, very like the teaching of Cyprian of old; such as no 
Roman ecclesiastic would dare now to preach. In fine, the dogma 
of papal infallibility was accepted, as the history of the council 



Notes 367 



27. And among the things which inspired men have put into 
this permanent, written form, we can understand also, in partic- 
ular, when at length Life and Immortality had been brought to 
light for all, why, thereupon, lest those who are to live for ever 
should mistake the nature and extent of the Work of Christ, (as 
in fact the many do,) all should be warned, over and over again, 
of the ever present judgment upon them of the God of unchange- 
able justice, and of its administration by the very One who rescued 
them from Death; and that, because of the eternal, unchangeable, 
and perfectly discriminating justice of the judgment, it is upon 
each newly created being throughout his unending existence, not 
by any means merely according to his orthodoxy, nor even, in any 
isolated sense, his faith, but according to all his deeds, whether good 
or evil. » With eternity before the individual, it therefore became 
all-important that he should be admonished by revelation upon 
revelation, as well as by the facts of nature, 2 notwithstanding what 
men may say about faith, or absolution, or other supposed substitute 
for holy deeds, how inevitable for ever and ever are the sufferings 
of a judgment always at hand upon sinfulness; that reformatory 
judgment is its invariable and necessary concomitant; and because 

itself shows, by a considerable minority of Romanists against their 
own judgment; or not because they believed therein, but in the 
infallibility of the council. 

1 As a rule, orthodoxy and heterodoxy are respectively results 
of birth and environment, rather than of the works of the man. 
That is to say, neither of them, in general, is a matter of merit or 
demerit, to be rewarded or punished by a judgment which is strictly 
according to deeds. But where there is in the matter a putting 
forth or abstaining from watchfulness, industry, an idle dependence 
"upon the precepts of man, " and the like, judgment then logically 
follows according to the deed. Hence the necessity of effort both 
to think and do aright is patent, and is obligatory upon every man; 
and particularly, seeing that, doubtless for the very purpose of 
arousing this effort, the sins of the fathers are visited upon the 
children. Accordingly, neither the Church, nor the pope, nor any 
bishop or priest, nor any idle trust in Jesus, can give a man a way 
of escape from this duty, or from any judgment whatever. The 
elder church of Israel, as a national church, had its head. And 
yet, if an individual stiffered himself to be misled by this head, it 
did not avert his judgment. We read: "And the Lord plagued 
the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made." Ex. 

32:35. 

2 Rom. 1 : 18-20, 28, 32; 2:1-6. Acts 17: 28-31. 



s 



368 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



it is thus unpardonable, that, except by deeds which in very truth 
reform the character, the divine chastisements can in no way be 
averted; not even though the evil deeds themselves be pardoned: 
since, on the one hand, the pure, just, and merciful Ruler of the 
universe will not suffer His creatures to remain imperfect, espe- 
cially after having redeemed them by reason of His unceasing love, 
nor, on the other, will He interfere with the freedom of their will, 
which, like all His gifts, He will not recall. Such things as these, 
we can well understand, should be fully brought to light only in 
their proper season; although even these were in a prefatory way 
duly commented upon in inspiration long before, and the manifes- 
tation of the judgments of the just God in the world were under- 
stood of all men from the beginning. But if, in addition, it were 
necessary that men should be provided with an infallible living 
teacher, notwithstanding the parasitic, degrading tendencies of 
such a position, — a provision intimating in fact, that what they 
believed in the several matters of theological controversy among 
Christians was more important than what they did, — then the long 
delay in the most authentic promulgation of the alleged fact, or in 
making known in an unquestionable manner to the world from 
the beginning, that God although in utter inconsistency with His 
usual method of dealing with His free-will creatures, had appointed 
an easy, infallible way of escape from error, hardly comports with 
that mercy which endureth for ever, — existing as well before July 
18, 1870, when to so many, the pope for the first time became 
infallible, as after that day. What momentous controversies a 
knowledge thereof from the first would have spared the early 
Christians! nay, what bitterness; what unseemly divisions! If 
true, why did not they — in truth, why did not the first bishops 
of Rome themselves — know of it; and all make their appeals 
thereto, all along, during the first Christian centuries? Why 
afterwards did it have to begin to be considered, and take so long 
to grow into acceptance? What watchfulness, care, and diligence 
in the past, as in the present, might have been saved ! How much 
troubled thought and painful study ignorance of the doctrine has 
caused ! How many anxious doubts would have been resolved ! 
Why, oh, why, if it really be the truth as revealed, such unaccount- 
able delay? Was it because it was not the will of God at any time, 
in the past or in the future, to make of the Christian world a stag- 
nant pool? And is the delay therefore of His designing; or one 
which was created by the inability of men to bring their ambitious 
designs to a speedier fruition ? For the true revelation of God is to 
have His children freemen, and not slaves. And instead of having 
them thoughtless and dependent upon others, He would stir them 
up to become men of character; able, if need be, to resist the mis- 



Notes 369 



leading of an archangel ; that there may be no renewal of the fall 
from heaven. And because the good Father in Heaven is jealous 
for the welfare of His children, therefore it is that He would have 
none upon earth exercise a paternal spiritual lordship over their 
judgment, and expressly commands them to call none here below 
their father, teacher, or spiritual master. In giving them ears to 
hear, and therewith an independent, individual judgment, and in 
telling them also to take heed what they hear, He shows most em- 
phatically that His gifts must be independently used by the indi- 
vidual possessor, and that no man must accept without question, 
or contrary to his own judgment, the dictates of another, or of any 
number of others. He must examine for himself whether he be in 
the faith. As for those who have had the dictates of others in- 
grained into their being from childhood, never exerting their own 
faculties about them, such wholly dependent beings have not used 
their free will and their judgment, if use it be, even so much as a 
bare acceptance would imply. In either case, for that matter, 
whether it be an acceptance or not, it is one of responsible gifts 
now lying dormant, and exposed to the just jurlgment of the Giver. 

[Note. — Owing to the sudden death of the author this note was 
unfinished. But it has been thought best to give it to the reader 
just as he left it.] 

§ 100 (a.), (p. 199). Meaning OP " PRIVATE " in 2 Pet. 1:20. — The 
word in 2 Pet. i : 20 translated "private," when used in that sense, 
is uniformly employed by the Greek authors in opposition to that 
which is public and common; and the examples are multitudinous. 
A few from the works of Xenophon will suffice for illustration, 
to wit: Inst. i. 2. 4, "decide all controversies both public and pri- 
vate" ; 6. 2. 34, "for these things are useful to every /'Wi'a^^ person and 
also to the public." Hell. i. 2. 10, "the highest rewards both in public 
and private" ; i. 7. 18, "In consequence, they are now involved in a 
common accusation, where others were separately at fault." Hiero, 
10. 5, "alike to your private possessions, and to those throughout 
the country' ' ; 1 1 . i , "to spend of his private resources for the common 
good. For to me at least it appears, that what a king lays out 
for the state serves a more useful purpose than vhat is expended 
upon his private person." Mem. 3. 7. 4, 5, " But it is not the same 
thing, Socrates, to be conversing in private and to be pleading before 
a multitude. . . . And yet, seest thou not," said he, "how the 
bashfulness and timidity implanted in men are greater by far 
before crowds, than is the case in private conferences?" 3. 11. 16, 
" many affairs private and public furnish me employment." DeVec. 
4. 21, "how can one detect the public money {i. e., that belonging 



370 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



to the state), when carried off; that which is private being just 
like it?" 

In the N. T,, under different renderings, the same opposition 
is continually shown; as in those examples where Jesus retires 
apart from the multitude. And again as follows: Heb. 7:27, "first 
for His own sins, and then for the people's." i Tim. 3 : 5, "For if a 
man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care 
of a congregation of God.?" 

When accordingly 2 Pet. i : 20 denies the interpretation of 
prophecy to be a private right, it strictly affirms it to be a public 
and common right, or the right of the people; thus placing the 
passage in full accord with other texts of scripture; for example, 
with the declaration of Moses at the beginning, that "those things 
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever." 
Those who so pervert the passage as even directly to reverse its 
meaning display either ignorance or something worse. See the 
Lexicon of L. and S. (idios). 

As elsewhere stated, I regard the passage, however, (particularly 
in view of the context,) as stating, not merely interpretation to 
be a public and common right, but also not to be limited to one 
meaning only ; and accordingly I regard it as affirming prophecy 
to be of no exclusive interpretation; the term "exclusive" applying 
to both ideas. 

§ 124 (a), (p. 253). The Greek Preposition ci?. — "Elect . . . 
by sanctification of spirit through (eis) Jesus Christ's obedience and 
sprinkling of blood." » I. e., justified, "according to the fore- 
knowledge of God (the) Father." For corresponding or kindred 
senses of the preposition eis a few examples from the N. T. may 
be given, as follows: Acts 7: 53, "received the law by (or, through) 
the ordinances of messengers" — to wit, the prophets sent from God. 
2 Th. 1 : 1 1 , " Wherefore" (or, because of which). So 2 : 14. i Tim. 2 : 7 
(not "Whereunto." See context), 4:10. 2 Tim. i:ii (cf. next 
verse — "for which cause also," or, "because of which also"); 2 
Heb. 11:3 ("so that," or, "by reason of which"), i Pet. 4:6, 
*' For for this cause" (a. v.), or, "For because of this" ; ^'.^.,!the judgment 
upon the quick and the dead alike. "For there/or^," says the 
apostle, "was the Gospel preached also to the dead," or the good 
news which should lead them to "live like God in spirit." i John 

» A strictly literal translation; there being no articles in the 
Greek. 

2 In this verse (12) the translation is not of eis, but of dia, — 
i. e., as an equivalent in a causal point of view to the eis of verse 
II. 



Notes ' 371 



3:8. Here too the preposition is consequential. First we are told, 
that the sinner is of the devil, who sinneth from the beginning. 
"There/or^," it is said, or ''Because of this was the Son of God 
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." Matt. 
14: 31, "where/(?r^(or, because of what, or for what reason) didst 
thou doubt?" 12 : 41, and Luke n : 32, "repented at {because of) the 
preaching of Jonas." Rom. 4: 20, "But at {by reason of, in conse- 
quence of, because of) the promise of God he faltered not through 
unbelief." 2 Cor. 2>:6, ''Insomuch that" {on this account, because of 
this, for this reason). 

Eis in r Pet. i : 2 is also illustrated by the countless examples 
where it indicates intent, purpose or end; for this idea is implied 
in an election according to God's foreknowledge through, or in 
view of, or in respect of, or by virtue of, the Life and Death of Jesus 
Christ. 

§ 124 (6), (p.255).DuALiSTic AND Triadic Conception ofMan. — i. 
Both our inner consciousness and outward observation recognise with- 
in us two different and differently derived natures; to wit, a good 
nature, which must have been derived from the great Source of 
all good, and an evil nature, which must have had an evil origin. » 
In the varied nomenclature of the Bible, among other descriptive 
appellations the former nature is called the child of God, and also 
the spiritual, or inner, or hidden, or new man, and the latter the 
child of the devil, and also the natural, or carnal, or outward, or 
old man. And, most consistently, the Child of God in each man 
is declared to be incorruptible and imperishable or immortal, and 
continually to receive new Life from his Eternal Parent; and the 
child of the devil to be corruptible, and doomed eventually to 
perish. Furthermore, in this duality within each man there is 
also a trinity, as evidenced by our three separate, independent 
wills; namely, the will of the flesh, of the mind, and of the spirit. 
So distinct are they, that at the same time the will of the flesh may 
be to eat or sleep, of the intellect to read or engage in other in- 
tellectual work, and of the spirit to do a deed of piety or charity 
or useful labour. And whenever these wills are bent upon their 
several ways, it becomes a question of mastery between them. 2 

» I John 2 : 29; 3 : 8, 10, 14, 18, 19, 24; 4: 7-14. Rom. 8: 14-16. 
John 8: 37-44, 47. Jas. i: 13-18. i Cor. 2: 12-15. 

2 "But the God of peace Himself hath sanctified you wholly 
(the past tense, because the new man hath already been created in 
Christ, 2 Cor. 5: 15-18); and may your spirit and soul and body 
be preserved perfect, without blame (or, preserved entirely with- 
out blame), in the presence (within us) of our Lord Jesus Christ." 



372 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



And yet all three are of the one man. Nay, each nature with its 
own three wills makes of every individual a double trinity; that is to 
say, a triune good personality, and a triune evil similitude; just as 
the tares in the parable ape the wheat. » And both these triune 
personalities together constitute one conscious personal identity, 
even a unity of being. Moreover, the warring triune wills are the 
visible experience of this earthly plane. Is it any wonder, when 
we come to heavenly things, about which no one is wiser than that 
which is revealed, that we should be told of the three harmonious 
wills of the one God above, in view of the three inharmonious wills 
of each man below ? In man indeed, there seems to be a third trinity 
of contradictory personalities made by the two natures and their 
possessor; thus making of man a trinity of trinities ! 2 

In the parable of the wheat and the tares we have from our Lord 
Himself, as also in other places, the teaching that all men are 
children of God and at the same time children of the devil. For 
in that parable the metaphor of "the field" is interpreted by Him 
to signify "the world"; and it is in the same world in which the 
wheat is sown, that the devil sows the tares; while also the wheat is 
called by Him "the children of the kingdom," and the tares "the 
children of the wicked (one)." And, in keeping with the gift to 
man of sovereignity of will, both are suffered to remain together 
until the harvest. Then, when the wheat is fully ripe, the tares 
bundle after bundle having been all gathered and consumed in the 
fires of aeonic judgment, and the wheat wholly delivered from 
their baneful presence after the long battle of survivorship between 
them, the wheat shall be gathered into the barn. "So," says our 
Lord, "shall it be at the end (or consummation) of this ason"; 
thus seeming to make the parable a picture of progress from aeon 
to aeon, as well as of final perfection. It would be woe to us, if the 
continuance of the gathering out of His kingdom of all things that 
offend should apply only to this Life, and to our imperfect condition 
at its close. 

2. The two distinct, opposing existences in each man are set 

iTh. 5:23. See Luke 10 : 27. Heb. 4: 12. Rom. 1:18; 2:9-13; 
3 : 9-20. * Matt. 13 : 24-30, 36-43- 

2 The Incarnation and re-creation thereby are necessarily beyond 
the human understanding; for they concern the nature and pos- 
sibilities of the Infinite God, and are outside the limits of finite 
conception. For our knowledge of supernatural things, of course, 
we are dependent upon and concluded by that which may be re- 
vealed from a supernatural source. In view of the triune nature of 
man himself, how idle is his conceit of piercing the skies, and of 
thus determining, contrary to revelation, that God is not triune! 



Notes 373 



forth at length by St. Paul, as follows : "For we know that the law 
is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I perform* 
I know not: for not what I would, that I practise; but what I hate, 
that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the 
law that it is good. But now it is no more 1 2 that perform it, but 
the sinfulness that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that 
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: 3 for to will is present with 
me; but to perform that which is good (is) not. For the good 
which I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I 
practise. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I 
that perform it, but the sinfulness that dwelleth in me. I find then 
the law, to me that would do the good, that to me* the evil is 
present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
but I see another s law in my members warring against the law of 
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sinfulness 
which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall 
deliver me from this body of Death? I thank God! (for it shall 
be) through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then in my mind I my- 
self 6 serve the law of God ; but in the flesh the law of sinfulness. 

1 In Rom. 7: 15, etc., probably for the sake of variety, are there 
different Greek verbs, which I distinguish as perform, practise 
(r. v.), and do; but I cannot detect any difference of significance 
in them; and I do not believe in altering the a. v., where nothing 
is gained. In order to arrest attention by going out of the beaten 
track, a writer may do this; but a regular version, like the r. v., 
should not. 

2 Those personal pronouns which are usually omitted in Greek 
become emphatic, when, as here, expressed. It is not I, the son 
of God, that do the evil, but I, the son of the devil. 

3 How carefully and often we are told that the child of evil has- 
no good in him, or is totally depraved, while the child of God 
cannot sin. 

4 The r. v. omits "to me"; failing to realise here the dual per- 
sonality of which the sacred writer is continuing consistently to 
speak; and that its repetition is in exact conformity with the rep- 
etition of the "I" all along, and has the same idea in view. "I 
find then the law to me (the child of God) that would do the good, 
that to me (the child of the devil) the evil is present." 

s Here the possessor of the two natures has his personal identity 
distinguished from those natures, showing the complete preser- 
vation of his sovereign free will to assert either nature at the 
expense of the other. 

6 See note (5) above, of this ^., and the emphasis put upon the 
personal identity of the child of God. 



374 The Foundation and the Superstructure 

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in 
Christ Jesus. 1 For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of Sinfulness and Death. For 
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, 
God, sending His own Son in likeness of sinful flesh, 2 and for 
(or, on account of) sinfulness, condemned the sinfulness in the 
flesh: that the righteousness of the law should be fulfilled in us, 
who exist not^ as flesh, but as spirit. For they that are as flesh 
do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are as spirit the 
things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh is Death; but the 
mind of the spirit is Life and Peace. Because the mind of the flesh 
is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh cannot 
please God. * But ye are not in flesh, but in spirit, if so be that 
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. And if any have not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ is in you, the body 
(i. e., the flesh, or evil nature) is dead because of sinfulness; but 
the spirit is Life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him 
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you. He that raised 
up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies s 
through His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we 
are debtors, not to the flesh, to live as flesh. For if ye live as flesh, 
ye would die: but if in spirit ye put to death the doings of the 
body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, 
these are sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of 
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of sonship, 
wherefore we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are children of God : and if children, then 
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ ;6 if so be that we 
suffer together, that we may be also glorified together." Rom. 
7: 14-25; 8: 1-17. In this passage one of the two natures is rep- 

1 And accordingly as sons of God we are immortal. 

2 In § 37, etc. I translate hamartia "sin" and accordingly this 
phrase ** sin's flesh." In changing from " sin " to the better rend- 
ering "sinfulness, " we would have here literally " in likeness of flesh 
of sinfulness." 

3 See § 37, footnote, also verse 10 below. 

4 See note (3), page 373, of this ^. 

5 Just above, and in 7 : 24 and 8:13, the term "body " represented 
the carnal nature or "old man "; but here it is the body of flesh in 
which we are dwelling; which, for distinction, is called the "mortal 
body." 

6 Or, "Christ's joint-heirs" — i. ^.,made so by Christ; not, " joint- 
heirs with Christ." See the Greek. 



Notes 375 



resented to be without sin, and the other to be utterly sinful, and 
a "body of Death." In the end the former is said to be delivered 
from the other, or freed from Sinfulness and Death; the sinless 
nature abiding for ever, and the other receiving its proper end. 
In this the thoughtful mind may learn how it is that all sinners 
(that is, all men) are to suffer in aeonic fire, and be finally destroyed; 
and, notwithstanding, that universal salvation is promised. And 
such a mind will have further reason to know, how we are all guilty 
in our ego — St. Paul's "I" that is incapable of good — of the Un- 
pardonable Sin, even the "Sin unto Death"; and that our de- 
struction in that ego is a necessary part of the Gospel of our 
Salvation. And even now from the old curse of Death we are freed. 
"For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ (by reason of my new 
Life already given) hath made me free from the law of Sin and 
Death." Thus each nature constitutes in itself our ego, or personal 
identity, and the acts of each nature are truly our own, and what 
is true of either nature of a man is true of the man. Thus St. Paul 
does not make of a man a simple unity acted upon by the forces 
of good and evil; but these forces belong respectively to the two 
warring existences in the man's inner being, making with the man 
himself a veritable trinity. 

3 . St. John also thus writes of the two natures : " If ye know that 
He is righteous, ye know that also every one that doeth righteous- 
ness has been begotten of Him. Behold what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and are, 
children of God! Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it 
knew Him not. Beloved, now are we children of God. . . . 
Whosoever i abideth in Him sinneth not : whosoever sinneth hath 
not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man lead 
you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He 
is righteous. 2 He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil 
sinneth from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was 
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 3 Who- 

1 "Whosoever" translates, wherever it occurs, the Greek for 
*' every one that" 

2 A righteous man, being like God, just as a son takes after the 
nature of his father, proves by his righteousness that a divine nature 
is in him. The image testifies that God is his father. So an act of 
sin proves in like manner the evil nature in the sinner, and its 
source. "He that committeth sin is of the devil." 

3 But He was not manifested to destroy mankind, but to beget 
in them the divine Life, and so enable them to overcome the evil 
life in them, and put it to death, without infringing in the least 
upon their free will. 



37^ The Foundation and the Superstructure 



soever has been begotten of God doth not commit sin; for his seed 
abideth in him : and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten 
of God. In this are manifested the children of God and the children 
of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, 
neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message 
which ye have heard from the beginning, that ye should love one 
another: not (be), as Cain was, of the evil (one), and slew his 
brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were 
evil, and those of his brother righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, 
if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from Death 
into Life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth 
in Death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye 
know that no murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him. . . 
Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. They 
are of the world . . . We are of God : he that knoweth God 
heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. Hereby know 
we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.* Beloved, let us love 
one another : for love is of God ; and every one that loveth has been 
begotton of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth 
not God: for God is love." The apostle next tells, how God had 
shown His love for men, when not loving Him, by sending His 
"Son into the world, that we should 2 live through Him"; and 
exhorts us in return to love one another. He then proceeds: "No 
man hath seen God at any time: (that is, to have direct proof of 
our divine birth: but we have the proof, if we manifest divine 
characteristics; for) if we love one another, God abideth in us, and 
His love hath been developed in us. 3 By this we know that we 

» In 4 : 3 it is the spirit of antichrist, which was to come in some 
special sense, and yet in a general sense was already in the world. 
See, too, 2: 18. In the general sense it is the "old man" within 
us all. 

2 Consistently with the hopeless views of translators in respect 
of the greater number of mankind, we have "might," inferring a 
mere possibility, as the auxiliary selected throughout the versions, 
where with more hopeful views the rendering would be "should," 
to denote a certainty. Except where it escapes my attention, I 
change the "might" to "should," in translating. 

3 Or, reproduced; the prominent thought of the passage being 
at this point that God's abiding in us and our sonship to Him are 
shown by our exhibiting that which pertains to God, viz., love. 
"If we love one another God abideth in us, and (it is) His love 
(that) is done by us." But for the "it is" and the "that," this, 
in fact, would be a literal rendering; and as these expressions are 
often required by English idiom, we may regard the rendering as 



Notes 377 



abide in Him, and He in us, in that He hath given us of His Spirit. 
And we (i .e., we who were personally with Jesus)* have seen and 
do testify that the Father hath sent the Son (to be) the Saviour of 
the world. ... If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony 
of God is greater. . . . And this is the testimony, that God hath 
given us eternal Life, and this Life is His Son. He that hath the 
Son hath the Life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the 
Life." In other words, the nature wherein dwelleth Christ, "the 
hope of glory," hath eternal Life; and the evil nature hath it not. 
I John 2: 29; 3: I, 2, 6-15; 4:4-9, 12-14; 5:9, II, 12. Wethusread 
that we are children of God, and cannot sin; and that whosoever 
sinneth is of the devil. And this was said after the propitiation 
"for the whole world," previously mentioned, 2 had been made; 
while at the beginning of the epistle we read: "If we say that we 
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 
I John 1:8. Of course all this would be inconsistent, if there were 
not within us two opposing, independent existences, or egoes, as told 
of by St. Paul. But so self-deceived are we, that in the face of 
the universality of sin, some of us often use language indicating 
that the evil nature had vanished, not in anticipation, as the Bible 
sometimes does, or in a fundamental sense, but as a positive fact; 
while most of us divide men into two separate classes, the one part, 
including ourselves, being children of God, and the rest, even the 
great majority, children of the devil. In general, — and it is quite 
natural, — we are not at all prone to acknowledge the shame of 
having the devil for a father, and that we have a devilish nature 
derived from him. With like pride, where a little humility in recog- 
nising a degrading fact would have been wholesome, were the 
members of the elder church, when told by our Lord of their being 
children of the devil, exceedingly vociferous in their protestations 

strictly literal. The objection is, that in English we do not speak 
of "doing love." The normal meanings of the verb are: to bring 
to an end, accomplish, execute, do, perform, finish, com,plete, consum- 
mate, fulfil, perfect (the rendering of the versions) ; and so, to mature, 
and the like. It also means, to consecrate (i. e., to make one perfect 
for the discharge of his office). Hdt. i. 121, containing the corre- 
sponding adjective, is rendered by L. and S. " a vision which imported 
nothing." Our love imports here that God's love is acting in us. 
The idea of the versions that God's love becomes perfected seems 
irreverent. 

» "We " in the Greek is several times expressed to emphasise and 
contrast ; — here to contrast the persons to whom it applies with 
those to whom it previously referred, or with us all. 

2 I John 2:2. 



378 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



to the contrary, haughtily claiming to be children of Abraham and 

of GOD.i 

4. A realization of the two natures within us often gives a 
better understanding of Scripture, and reconciles passages which 
would otherwise seem in conflict. Indeed, the very statements 
that men are both children of God and children of the devil, and 
are at the same time from above and from below, and that they 
are sinners, but, being children of God, cannot sin at all, are, apart 
from the duality in each man, manifest contradictions; for it is 
impossible, in the various positive assertions made of the two 
natures and of their opposite characteristics and destinies, to 
regard them as mere figures of speech, or as said of distinct portions 
of men. It is certainly no figure of speech, nor does it pertain only 
to a portion of men, to say that all are sinners, or to call sinners 
children of God; and if all are sinners, and all or any of them 
children of God, to declare that they cannot sin, because they are 
born of God; or, on the other hand, being sons of God, that they 
can do no good works, have no good in them, and can neither hear 
nor understand the word of truth. And yet, just such statements, 
and others also of equal apparent inconsistency, we have had, and 
more will be cited; and they are constantly being made in the 
Word of God. Still, they are easily harmonised, if we keep in mind 
that there are two differently derived, utterly opposite natures in 
us; but not otherwise. In fact, the supernatural harmony of the 
several sacred writers in the matter should be specially noticed; 
and, too, how they press the subject upon our attention. For how 
spiritually energising would be the fear of God and the trembling 

1 The Rev. Charles Kingsley, in a sermon on "Human Nature," 
tells of a man in America, who, when rebuked for drunkenness, 
said, "There is a great deal of human nature in a man." The 
preacher thereupon remonstrates at the slur upon human nature; 
adding, "as if the devil, and not God, had made human nature, 
and as if Christ had not redeemed human nature." All which is 
true, indeed, of man, and the gift to him of a nature wherein he 
has been made a child of God. But how about the tares from an 
evil source, which have been sown among the wheat in the field of 
the world? The preacher overlooked the very nature to put down 
which he was preaching; — a nature, however, recognised in every 
command, exhortation and rebuke of the Bible. It was my great 
pleasure, after writing The Purpose of the Mons, to find in Canon 
Kingsley so able an advocate of certain important teaching therein 
insisted upon. I wonder therefore that he had nothing to say about 
the great deal of evil human nature there is, alas! in us all. The 
Good News of God, Sermon xxiii, p. 188. 



Notes 379 



before Him, save in those in whom the worldly nature is dominant, 
to realise on the one hand, that so long as we possess the one nature, 
we are under His aeonic condemnation, and are necessitated to put 
forth our personal efforts with vigour, to effect our riddance there- 
from, and to cause the evil nature to be brought to the everlasting 
destruction which is its foreordained doom; and on the other hand, 
to feel assured, that as children of God we have eternal Life, and 
are heirs of its future unalloyed enjoyment, and that during the 
period of asonic judgment there is given us this strong "aeonic con- 
solation and good hope through grace." i Based as this hope is 
upon the love of an unchangeable Father, and the immutability 
of His glorious purpose in our behalf, even graciously confirmed 
to us, as it is said, by His oath, it becomes to all earnest strivers 
after holiness, amid the troubles of life, and the fearful threatenings 
of the Bible, "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." 2 
In further illustration of the fact that passages of scripture which 
seem confusing become not only intelligible, but reasonable, when 
the two natures are taken into consideration, may be mentioned 
the desultory proofs which St. John gives of our derivation, first, 
from God or, next, from an evil source. He proclaims, in the first 
place, every one that doeth righteousness to be begotten of God 
(i John 2 : 29) ; and then, but in a disconnected, irregular way, after 
the general statement, he declares of special acts of righteousness, 
that each one in itself proves the doer's]divine birth. That is to say, 
if he loveth God or his brother (3: 10-20; 4: 7-13, 16-21; 5: i, 2), 
or is a hearer of the truth (4:5, 6), or believeth in the Son of God 
(5 : 10), or even confesseth Christ to have come in the flesh (4: 2,3) 
or to be the Son of God (4 : 15), or believeth Jesus to be the Christ 
(5:1), or doeth any thing which is righteous (see passim), he be- 
comes in so far a doer of righteousness, and is of God. On the other 
hand, if he fail in any such thing, therein he manifests himself to 
be not of God, but to possess a nature which is of different origin. 
Not that either way he is wholly good or wholly evil, but only 
that he has a nature corresponding with his good or evil acts. For 
that which is righteous must be from above, and that which is 
unrighteous from below. 

5, And what one is there that does not do some act of righteous- 
ness, however little? For example, "as love is of God; and every 
one that loveth has been begotten of God," what one is there that 
is wholly destitute of love? Says Isaiah: "For Thou art our 
Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge 
us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name 
is from everlasting. . , . O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are 

1 2 Th. 2: 16. 2 Heb. 6: 17-19. 



380 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy 
hand." Is. 6^: 16; 64:8. Hence St. Paul, who so often tells of 
our being sons of God, addressed the Athenians, although they 
were idolaters and heathen, saying to them of God, that He is. 
"not far from each one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and 
have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said. 
For we are also His offspring." And with reference to the evi- 
dences of idolatry around the apostle while he was speaking, he- 
added: "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think 
that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by 
art and device of man." Acts 17:27-29. The sin of idolatry is 
not, of course, the act of a son of God; and it was therefore of men 
in their evil nature that these last words were said. And is there 
not reason to fear that for centuries a similar idolatry has been 
customary among Christians? Ought we to think that the Godhead 
is like unto bread or wine, which is made by the art and device of 
men? And are there no other objects of adoration devised by man, 
and graven or ornamented by his art, to which Christians even 
bend the knee in worship? It was, verily, in warning to the elder 
Church, and through that Church to us all, that Isaiah, the same 
whose utterances are so pronounced respecting the Fatherhood of 
God, thus wrote: "I am the Lord; that is my name: and my 
glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven im- 
ages. . . . Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers (or, thine 
interpreters) have transgressed against Me (Is. 42:8; 43 : 2 7) . 
Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, 
the Saviour. . . . They have no knowledge that set up the 
wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot 
save. . . . Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth; for I am God, and there is none else. By myself have I 
sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth (in) righteousness, 
and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every 
tongue shall swear. Only in Jehovah, shall one say, have I right- 
eousness and strength: even to Him shall men come." 45: 15, 20, 
22-24. St. Paul expressly declares the tendency to magnify mate- 
rial things to spring from the fleshly nature. After directing that 
no one should judge Christians in respect to the ceremonies of the 
elder church, which were only a shadow of the things that should 
follow, while the body that casts the shadow is that of Christ; the 
apostle adds in regard to Him, "Let no designing person, by hu- 
mility and a worshipping of the angels, as a judge deprive 1 you 
(herein), rashly intruding into things which he hath not seen, being 

» The verb signifies "deprive as a brabeus" {i. e., umpire, arbiter y 
or judge); thus conforming to the "judge" of v. 16). 



Notes 381 



as to nature 1 under the mind of the flesh; and not keeping hold of 
the Head, from which all the body, through the joints and bands, 
being abundantly nourished and knit together, should grow up (in) 
the growth of God. If ye died with Christ from the passing 
shadows 2 of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye 
subject yourselves to ordinances . . . after the commandments 
and teachings of men." Col. 2: 18-20, 22. See 16, 17. Evidently 
St, Paul, especially in view of the warnings of Jesus, ^ was anxious 
lest, under the influence of the fleshly nature, which loves the world 
and its pomp and circumstance, men, on this or that religious pre- 
text, should become the victims of numerous unwholesome tra- 
ditions and ceremonial displays, and of the falsehoods embodied 
in them, and of pernicious teachings and commandments, — all of 
man's devising and subtility; and should be deprived of the sim- 
plicity which pertains to the things of Christ, and in their extreme 
reverence for those of men, should weaken in reverence for their 
true and only spiritual Father, who is in Heaven. In all this we per- 
ceive that while all men are acknowledged to be of God, we all show 
continually, by our love of the things of the world, that we have 
another nature. As St. John says, after mentioning the "sin unto 
Death," "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth 
in that evil." i John 5:19. 

6. In harmony with his fellow apostles St. James says: "Let 
no one, being tempted, say, I am tempted of God : for God is not 
to be tempted of evil things, and Himself tempteth no one. But 
every one is tempted when by his own lust drawn away and enticed. 
Then the lust having conceived beareth sin; and the sin having 
been committed* bringeth forth Death. Be not led astray, my 

1 The participle rendered "being as to nature" is, with its verb, 
formed on the noun phusis, meaning nature, or the word of which 
we are reminded in physics, physical, etc. The verb means also, 
figuratively, "to puff up," as rendered in the versions. 

2 The primary idea of the noun is the moving shadow of the index 
of the sun-dial. By derivation it means also one of a series or row; 
and so, in the plural, the A, B, C, the rudiments. Or again a com- 
ponent part; and so, in the plural, the elements. 

3 Matt. 6: 5-13; 7:15-20; 12:1-16; 15:1-9; 23:1,26. 

* Notice in English, as well as in the Greek, the reference back 
of the articles in this sentence. — "Having been committed" is 
translated by the a. v. "when it is finished"; by the r. v., "when 
it is full-grown," — the latter a comparatively rare meaning. For the 
normal and ordinary meanings, see above, ^ 3, note (3), pp. 376, 377. 
Both there and here the idea seems to be that of something conceived, 
generated, or produced. The a. v.'s rendering is true to the normal 



382 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



beloved brethren. Every good gift (dosis) and every perfect gift 
(dorema)^ is from above, coming down from the Father (i. e., sole 
Source) of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of 
turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of 
Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits 2 of His creatures. 
. . . Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of 
wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is 
able to save your souls." Jas. i : 13-18, 21. The same apostle tells 
us also of two different kinds of wisdom, saying of the one, "This 
wisdom is not (that which) cometh down from above, but is earthly, 
of a natural sort, devilish." And of the other, "But the wisdom 
from above is first pure, then" etc., 3: 15, 17. And of that which 
in the first of the above passages is called the implanted word he 

idea, but is awkward, obscure, and far away from the apostle's 
metaphor of something conceived or born. But how much more 
so is the r. v.'s "when it is full-grown"! And how very, very awk- 
ward! When, pray, is sin full-grown, and when not? After it be- 
comes sin, is there a period of waiting until it is full-grown, before 
it "brings forth Death"? For elsewhere we read, that in the day 
of sin the sinner dies (Gen. 2 : 17); nay, that he dies in his iniquity 
(Ezek. 33: 8, 9, 12). Surely St. James would never have said. The 
wages of sin when it is full-grown becomes Death. With St. Paul 
he would rather have said, "The wages of sin is Death" (Rom. 
6:23), without any conditions. In his next chapter he reasons that 
whether a sin be little or great, — respect of persons only, or adul- 
tery, or murder, or a lack of faith or works, — the sinner is answera- 
ble for all ; that is, incurs the penalty of Death, the one penalty, 
whether the offence be one of slight degree or against every com- 
mand of the law. For the word used in Jas, 2: 10 is not "guilty," 
although repeatedly rendered so in the N. T.; but answerable, 
responsible, etc. If we commit sin, we violate the law as a whole, 
and are responsible accordingly. The best translation of 1:15, 
from what is said above, is, "and sin, when it is born" or "begotten," 
etc. It would be a figurative rendering, but would be true to the 
metaphors of the apostle. 

1 In the use of dosis and dorema in immediate connection both 
a difference and a relation between them are implied; but what, 
the words hardly indicate; for both are used for a gift. Perhaps 
dosis is the gift of Life and its powers, and dorema, the gift of the 
Spirit inspiring their use. This would show the divine gift of Life, 
as a "good gift," which becomes a "perfect gift," when the lustful 
life is destroyed. 

2 Or "some beginning of fruits." The expression, repeatedly 
used, sounds like the gospel of all creation. 



Notes 383 



asks: "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, Doth the 
spirit which He hath caused to dwell in us yearn with envy ? " 4:5. 
In these examples, then, we are taught, as usual, how all good is 
from the good God above, of whose will, which knows not a 
shadow of change, the good Life in us has been begotten; and 
whose purpose, accordingly, in begetting that Life is unalterable. 
And we are further taught of the evil factor in us all which "no 
one" should charge to be of God. And because of these things, 
and their universal application, the sacred writer exhorts "every 
man " » to develop his good Life, and restrain and put away the 
evil. This double nature in us the Bible sometimes indicates in 
a single sentence, thus: "The wages of sin is Death; but the free 
gift of God is eternal Life in Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6: 23. 
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 
But each in his own order." i Cor. 15: 22, 23. "We know that 
we are of God, and the whole world (the wicked nature of every 
man) lieth in that evil " — i. e. Death, i John 5 : 19. "For all that 
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the 
pretentiousness of life,2 is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that 
doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 2: 16, 17. These things 
were said after the descent of the Spirit: and they include us all. 
Upon "all flesh" the Spirit descended, conferring upon all from 
the beginning the immortal nature of God. And yet, because in 
"the whole world" there is "the lust of the flesh," the world in 
its carnal nature "passeth away." "For in many things we all 
sttunble." Jas. 3:2. "There is not a righteous man, not even 
one." Rom. 3: 10. Since we all therefore lie prostrate in the evil 
of Death, how hopeless would be our case, but for the nature be- 
gotten in the world through Him who was sent to be its Saviour! 
And of that nature it is said, " We know (for the child of God must 
be holy) that whosoever has been begotten of God sinneth not: but 
he that has been begotten of God keepeth himself, and that evil 
(the Death which had been mentioned just before) toucheth him 
not." 5:18. 

7. In all this teaching the apostles are echoing that of our 
Lord. For in the first place He taught the multitude to say, " Our 
Father, who art in Heaven" (Matt. 6:9; 23:9. Luke 11:2); 
while on another occasion He addressed the Jews, the members of 
the elder church, and many of them in all likelihood the same 
individuals whom He taught more than once that God was their 

» Jas. i: 19. 

2 The natural life, hios, not zoe, which is used for the better 
life. 



3^4 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



Father.i as follows: "I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but 
ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 2 I 
speak what I have seen of my Father, and ye do what ye also have 
seen of your Father, . . . If ye were Abraham's children, ye 
would do the works of Abraham. . . . Ye do the works of your 
father. . . . If God were your Father, ye would love me. . . . 
Why do ye not understand my speech? Because ye cannot hear 
my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your 
father ye will to do. . . . He that is of God heareth the words 
of God: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." 
John 8:37-39, 41-44, 47. In all these words of Jesus note the 
apparent contradictions, and how readily they are reconciled in the 
two natures. Men are, and are not, of God, and are, and are not, 
of Abraham. St. Peter afterwards, it may be noted in connection 
with these words of the Master, addressed these Jews, even the ones 
who finally had become His crucifiers, telling them of the resur- 
rection and session of Jesus at the right hand of God, and that He 
should remain on that seat of power, until His foes should be made 
His footstool; and exhorting them to repent, because, notwith- 
standing their terrible sin, the promise was unto them and to their 
children. And in a second address the apostle encourages them to 
the same effect, saying unto them, "Ye are the sons of the prophets, 
and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying 
unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth 
be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, 
sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your 
iniquities." Acts 3:25-26. When, therefore, our Saviour told 
these Jews that they could not hear or understand His word, and 
were children of the devil, why did He address them at all? 
And why did St. Peter follow Him in so doing? And yet of them 
the apostle gained believers. The questions are answered in St. 
Peter's address. Because that in the seed of Abraham all are 
blessed, "every one." That is to say, Christ died for all. 3 In 
Him, who is the seed of Abraham all are "born from above." "For 
it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, 
and one by the freewoman. But he of the bondmaid was born 
as flesh; and he of the freewoman through the promise. Which 
things are told as an allegory. . . . Now we, brethren, like Isaac, 

» Owing, perhaps, to St. John's awkwardness of expression, or to 
the universality of the duality, those addressed are said to be both 
believers and unbelievers. Cf. 8: 30-34, etc., with 8:44-46. At all 
events, both classes were present. 

2 Or, "no room (r. v., not free course) in you"; — i. e., while the 
evil nature is dominant. ^ 2 Cor. 5: 14, 15. 



Notes 385 



are children of promise. But as then he that was born as flesh, 
persecuted him (that was born) as spirit, even so (it is) now. But 
what saith the scripture ? Cast out the bondwoman and her son : 
for the son of the bondwoman shall not inherit with the son of the 
freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of a bond- 
woman, but of the freewoman. In the freedom (in which) Christ 
hath set us free stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again 
with a yoke of bondage." Gal. 4:22-24, 28-31; 5:1. I will add 
here another passage illustrative of those who cannot possibly 
receive the word of the Lord. St. Paul writes again: "But we 
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is 
from God ; that we should know the things which have been freely 
given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words taught 
of man's wisdom, but in those taught of the Spirit; comparing spir- 
itual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and is himself judged 
of none." i Cor. 2: 12-15. 

8. What a wonderful book must that be, whose very contra- 
dictions, as the natural man sees them, are notes of supernatural 
harmony! And amid what a maze of seeming confusion are these 
notes of the many writers, however uncultivated, distinctly sounded 
forth without the least discord. Who can parallel such harmony 
of deep spiritual utterances among so many, by the most careful 
selection in any age of uninspired, independent writers, especially 
of those who have not been assisted by the Bible. 1 It is, for ex- 
ample, but one of the consistent revelations of the sacred writers, 
to unite in telling, although in ever so great diversity of ways, of 
the world foredoomed to Death, and at the same time of the world 
whose Life is everlasting. But to understand them the better, we 
must observe the careful distinctions which they make both in 
nature and derivation, between the world which is mortal and that 
which is immortal; and, in particular, must keep in mind, that the 
better nature, being absolutely sinless because of its divine son- 
ship, cannot be guilty of unbelief; and that, of logical consequence, 
this must be true, not only of those whom we call believers, who 
have an intellectual understanding of truth, but of the worst and 
youngest of our race, or of all who have been redeemed from Death 
and justified unto Life. On the other hand, until our evil nature 
is finally destroyed, we are all, because thereof, under judgment, 
and are styled "children of promise." 2 And, with exceeding 
care, the promise is so made as to show that while given to every 

1 And even, indeed, of those who have been. 2 Gal. 4: 28. 

25 



386 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



man, it is only given in respect of his better nature. The univer- 
sality thereof is very pronounced, but is so inseparably joined with 
that which tells of limitation, as to breed confusion; even making 
some Christians to be unconditional universal ists, and others to 
imagine that the Almighty Father has failed in His purpose in 
sending into the world its intended Saviour, and only succeeded 
in saving a few! The language of the several writers, however, is 
strongly guarded in both directions, stimulating hope, and yet 
arousing fear; telling unmistakably of "the enemies of the cross 
of Christ: whose end is destruction, . . . who mind earthly 
things," 1 and as confidently of the eternal Life of the child of God, 
or of " the believer," and therein of all men. To give examples : " For 
God so loved the world, that He hath given His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever 2 believeth in Him should not perish, but should have 
eternal Life. For God hath not sent His Son into the world to judge 
the world; but that the world through Him should be saved. He 
that believeth in Him is not judged; but he that believeth not hath 
been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of 
the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment that the 
light (the new man in Christ) hath come into the world, and men 
have loved the darkness (their old man) rather than the light; 
for their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth 
the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be 
exposed. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that 
his deeds may be made visible ; ^ because they have been wrought 
in God." John 3 : 16-31. "In Him (Christ) was Life; and the Life 
was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in the darkness ; and 
the darkness hath not taken it in. . . . (That) was the true 
Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was 
in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world 
knew Him not. He came unto His own (things or possessions), and 
His own (people) * received Him not. But as many as s received 
Him, to them gave He a nature ^ to have been begotten children 

» Phil. 3: 18, 19. 

2 Gr. " every one that." 

3 See Matt. 5:16. 

4The first "His own" is neuter, the second masculine in the Gr. 

sAs usual, "as many as" signifies all. In the very same chapter 
we learn that "of His fulness have we all received "; and that He 
"lighteth every man"; shining on our dark nature, which, how- 
ever, can take in no light. 

6 Or, "a high dignity," or, "a perfect nature." The word is 
exousia. Ordinarily it denotes, i. power, might, means, authority, 
qualification; 2. an office of dignity, lordship; 3. license, arrogance. 



Notes 387 



of God, — to them that believe in His name; which were begotten, 
not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God. . . . And of His (Christ's) fulness have we all received, and 
grace for Grace." John 1:4, 5, 9-13, 16. "Reliable is the saying 
and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we labour and suffer 
reproach, because we have set our hope on a living God, who is the 
Saviour of all men, specially of them that are faithful. These things 
command and teach." i Tim. 4: 8-1 1. 

9. The relation of the subject to the Unpardonable Sin has 
already been noticed. For as the new man cannot sin, so in the 
old man, or, as St. Paul says, "in my flesh, dwelleth no good 
thing." 1 Accordingly, the old man cannot please God, 2 and as 
an irreconcilable enem.y is doomed by Him to Death. That is to 
say, the old man as the creator of sinfulness constitutes in himself 
the Unpardonable Sin. He is not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be, 3 and so, being in perpetual enmity with God and 
His Holy Spirit, and utterly, hopelessly ruined, he is doomed to 
Death. It is not that his acts of sin of themselves bring upon him 
his doom; but because his nature is such that he can never be 
otherwise than lawless. For acts of sin we read: "We have an 
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous: and He is 
a propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the 
whole world." i John 2 : i, 2. On the other hand, the apostle who 
uttered these words, said also: "There is a sin unto Death: not 
for this do I say that he (any one of us) should pray. All unright- 
eousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto Death." 5 : 16, 17. To 
give the words of Jesus Himself: "But if I by the Spirit of God 
cast out your (lit. the) demons, then is the kingdom of God come 
upon you. Else how can one enter into the house of the strong 

pomp; 4. abundance of means, resources; etc. The component 
word ousia denotes, i. one^s substance, property, resources, means; 
2. being, existence; 3. essence, tru£ nature, reality, true inwardness. 
The preposition ek in composition, (as is the case here,) gives with 
words in general either the sense of i . from, out of, forth, off, away, 
etc., or 2. of completeness, as perfectly, utterly, etc. Hence in 
exousia the sense of "'abundance of means." That of "a high dig- 
nity" accords well with the more usual meanings; as does "a 
perfect nature" with those of ousia, particularly as strengthened 
by ek; and both also with the context — "to them has He given a 
high dignity (or, a perfect nature) to have been begotten children 
of God." See the exceedingly discordant renderings of the a. v. 
(power) and r. v. (right). 

1 Rom. 7:18. 2 Rom. 8:8. 3 Rom. 8:7. 



388 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



(demon),! and make spoil of his possessions, 2 except he first bind 
the strong (demon), and then shall he make spoil of his house. 
He that is not with me is against me; and he' that gathereth 
not with me scattereth. Wherefore I say unto you. All sin and 
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the spirit's blasphemy 
(i. e., sinfulness) ^ shall not be forgiven unto men ;* and whosoever 

1 /. e., "Beelzebub, the prince of the demons," or Satan. See 
vv. 24-27. Jesus does not accordingly say, "the strong man," but 
simply, "the strong," the adjective referring to the word "demon" 
just previously mentioned. To render "the strong (one)" is too 
indefinite, but it is better than to supply "man" where an evil 
spirit is intended. 

2 It does not seem proper to entitle the devil's belongings 
"goods." These belongings are the evil natures and acts of sin 
in us all. The Greek word used means vessels or implements, 
utensils^ chattels, stores, possessions or belongings, goods, wares, 
things, etc. It is also applied to living beings in both a good and 
a bad sense. See Acts 9:15; Rom. 9:21-23, etc. Men of ignoble 
condition are called by this word one's tools or chattels. And this 
would seem to be the idea here. Enslaved by our evil natures, the 
devil holds us with "strong" grip; but of these "tools" the 
Stronger than he comes to despoil him (Luke 11: 22). It is said 
as an equivalent "make spoil of his house." The word "house " 
also means "family." Its corresponding significance is patent; for 
Satan's family are also his tools. 

» In English "the blasphemy of the spirit" is ambiguous, sig- 
nifying either "the spirit's blasphemy," or "the blasphemy against 
the spirit"; which latter would be incorrect. For in the Greek 
there is no "against" or other preposition and the meaning is 
beyond question. It is simply the genitive (our possessive) case; 
and is literally either form of the genitive — either "the spirit's 
blasphemy" or "the blasphemy of the spirit" in a like sense. In 
the next verse, however, "against " is used; for there it is no longer 
the blasphemy of the unholy spirit, which is spoken of, but the 
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But why this should have led 
to the previous mistranslation, when the Greek is so very plain, 
is a wonder. And the egregious mistranslation has stood unchal- 
lenged for centuries! 

* Note the distinction between ^'all sin and blasphemy " as for- 
given, and "the spirit," demon, or child of the devil, who commits 
the blasphemy, whose blasphemy cannot be forgiven. In the one 
case we have an act. This is pardonable. In the other the doer of 
the act, whose condition is unpardonable. If our personal identity 
were limited to the doer of the act, it could not be said that the 



Notes 3^9 



shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; 
but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, i it shall not be 
forgiven him, neither in this life (^on), nor in that to come. Either 
make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, 
and its fruit corrupt : for the tree is known by its fruit. Ye offspring 
of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The good man out 
of the good treasure 2 bringeth forth the good things; and the evil 
man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say 
unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall 
give account thereof in a day of judgment. For by thy words thou 
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." 
Matt. 12:28-37. 

10. These utterances proclaim Jesus to be casting out the 
demons in men by the Spirit of God ; and that the act proves His 
kingdom to have come upon men. The Divine Speaker does not 
declare that kingdom merely to have come, but to have come upon 
those addressed — "upon you"; that is, upon all, even the cavil- 
ling unbelievers, who at that very time were calling His casting out 
of the demons the work of "Beelzebub, the prince of the demons." 
And yet, even upon them the kingdom had come; for of the Son of 
God and the Spirit they too were born; and they had accordingly 
been made children of God and heirs of His kingdom. Still, although 
this was the case, the casting out of a devil from one of them 
illustrated the existence in men also of a very different nature, 
which Jesus declared to have emanated from Satan. 3 The appli- 
cation to us all of what He was doing and saying becomes the more 
apparent as we follow His discourse. He had told us expressly 
that the casting out of the devil showed the kingdom of God to 
have come; and He goes on to say in substance, that if this were 

act should be forgiven ; for surely there is no forgiveness where we 
ourselves are never pardoned. But for the two natures therefore, 
there would be a contradiction. As it is, we are pardoned all sin 
and blasphemy, but not our evil nature. 

1 To speak against the Holy Spirit is to be in continual resistance 
to His sanctifying power. It is "the spirit's blasphemy" again; 
and we all in our evil natures are the speakers. Hence it is those 
natures which are said never to be forgiven, and which in conse- 
quence must he destroyed. 

2 The preponderance of authority omits "of the heart." Still, 
whether we speak of the heart or the evil treasure, we have a com- 
parison of the evil nature and in the good treasure of the good 
nature, and of the deeds of each. 

3 Matt. 12 : 24-27. 



390 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



not the case, how could the strong one, that is, the prince of the 
devils, have been despoiled by Him of his belongings ? It behooved 
one though, in order to accomplish this despoiling, to go right into 
the house where the strong one had taken up his abode, and bind 
him. Yet although by casting out a devil, He continues, I show 
myself to be stronger than the prince of the devils, i and able to 
do all this, a great deal remains for men to do, and in the doing 
of which, I can do nothing; but must judge them according 
to their deeds.2 They must aid me, or they will be against me 
and my purpose. For if my good seed is sown where it shall 
not be cultivated the condition of the man will be all the worse 
for what I accomplish in giving him salvation from Death. 3 Of 
all things then, do your part in the work, and with exceeding 
care. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of the man, he passeth 
through waterless places, seeking rest; and findeth none. Then 
he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And 
having come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then 
goeth he, and taketh along with himself seven other spirits more 
evil than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last 
State of that man becometh worse than the first. So shall it be 
also unto this evil generation" (Matt. 12:43-45. See also Luke 
II : 24-26). Wherefore I say unto you. There is indeed pardonable 
sin; but there is also that which is unpardonable. For because of 
the propitiation which I make for the world, all sin and blasphemy 
shall be forgiven unto men; so that they shall be redeemed from 
the Death which was their due, and shall live for ever. But you 
have that unclean spirit within you, derived from below, which 
is the instigator of all your sin and blasphemy. The blasphemy 
of that spirit, or your Sinfulness, shall not be forgiven unto men. 
To make you clean and sinless, you must therefore cast out the 
unclean spirit; just as I cast out the one which was blind and dumb. 
For your better understanding I repeat: Who shall speak a word 
against the Son of Man, that is, whosoever shall, even to an idle 
word, be the doer of a wrongful deed, it is done against me, for I 
have taken unto myself the burden thereof, and it shall be forgiven 
him. But before men are meet to be received into heaven, they 
must be sanctified; and the Holy Ghost is their Sanctifier. The 
spirit of the devil, however, within them is utterly incapable of 

1 Luke 11:21, 22. 

2 John 5: 30. See § 26. 

3 Matt. 13:1-9; 26:24. Heb. 10:29. Of course, Jesus does 
more for men than save them from Death ; for He sends the Spirit 
and the judgment according to deeds. But it is to our forgiveness 
from all sin because of His Life and Death to which He now refers. 



Notes 391 



sanctification; and so long as that unholy spirit remains within 
any man, or is at all a part of his being, the man will be, to a greater 
or less degree, in resistance to the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying 
work. Whosoever then shall speak against the Holy Spirit, that 
is, even again to an idle word, shall exhibit a sinful condition, it 
shall never be forgiven him, neither here nor hereafter. If Jesus 
had not expressly spoken, in connection with the casting out of 
demons which had emanated from their prince, of an evil spirit 
within men which is the instigator of the blasphemy that could not 
be forgiven them. His words with greater reason might appear to 
some to be contradictory. For along with His declaration of an un- 
pardonable sin. He expressly states that all or every sin and blas- 
phemy shall be forgiven unto men. Moreover, if a man is to suffer 
for a sin, then to the full extent of his sufferings he is not pardoned, 
nor is the sin forgiven. But if the unpardonable sin applies to us 
in respect of the evil nature in us all, or is our Sinfulness, as has 
been the name usually given to it in this volume, then the consis- 
tency of the words of Jesus becomes manifest ; and we realise that 
when a man gets rid of that evil nature which is essentially Sinful, 
he gets rid also of the unpardonable sin. The man will then have 
but the one immortal nature, begotten in Him of God, and all 
sin and blasphemy, into which his former evil nature shall have 
led him, shall be forgiven him; while that nature itself, whose 
blasphemy shall never be forgiven, will have received its mortal 
doom. And let us observe the universal intent expressed in the 
language of Jesus in regard, first, to pardonable, and then, to 
unpardonable sin. He speaks in both cases alike of men in general ; 
as though all alike had not only pardonable sins and blasphemies^ 
but also the blasphemy which is unpardonable. For just as "all 
sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," — that is, unto 
us all, — so, He says, "the spirit's blasphemy shall not be forgiven 
unto men"; or unto the same men as before, — that is again, unto 
us all. The guilt seems as universal in the one clause as in the 
other; only it is forgiven in the one case, and not in the other. 
The possibility of the unpardonable guilt of all, though only of 
some in fact, is not a sufficient answer to this. For in the first 
place there is a universal intent all through the context. Even to 
the hostile Jews who had dared to charge Him with being the 
tool of Beelzebub, He declared that their words against Himself 
should be forgiven; but not. He added, "the spirit's blasphemy"; 
meaning evidently, that which had emanated from the unclean 
spirit within each man. In the second place, the very statement 
introduces inconsistency; for it makes all men pardonable, and 
at the same time some men unpardonable. And in the third place, 
it makes the words "unto men" in the second clause unnecessary. 



392 The Foundation and the Superstructure 



as though they were but a play of language to give similarity to 
the clauses. Indeed, the interpretation, applying the clause to 
only a part of men, would be made somewhat more certain without 
them; and would be still more strengthened, although even then 
not made conclusive, if instead of applying the clause unto men 
in general, after the manner of the preceding clause, the reading 
had been, "but the spirit's blasphemy shall not be forgiven unto 
those who have such a spirit," But even so, the reading would 
still be consistent with the unclean spirit being in all, and the clause 
might be as universal in intent as is the apparently limited ex- 
pression which follows, to wit, "Whosoever speaketh a word 
against the Son of man"; which expression, however, includes all 
sin borne by our Lord, and of course all sinners. From every point 
of view, therefore, the more satisfactory interpretation of the two 
clauses is, that the guilt spoken of in each applies not possibly, 
but actually, to us all; and that it is pardonable in the one case, 
but not in the other; and that while that which is pardonable 
comprises all sin and blasphemy it is the Sinfulness from which 
they spring, which is caused by the evil spirit within the man, 
which is unpardonable. 



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